A Better Way
by Void Walker The Lost Agent
Summary: I believe in the marvelous, in the impossible even. But at what cost? Surely there's a better way. I'd like to be the one to test such a theory.
1. Prologue

The night of October tenth, a disaster had befallen Konohagakure. Unaware and unprepared the village was attacked by the bijū known as the Kyūbi, known also as the Nine Tailed Fox. While many shinobi and kunoichi were putting their lives on the line to defend their home, panic was spreading throughout the ranks as the absence of their leader the, Yondaime Hokage. Meanwhile, in a chamber hidden away within the Hokage Monument; Minato Namikaze was in the process of helping his wife with her delivery of their children.

Minato was in a panic, hearing the sound of his village being destroyed and feeling the Kyūbi's violent attacks throughout the chamber was worrying the young Kage. Weeks ago, Minato had delved into figuring out a way to subdue or destroy the bijū without endangering his wife. From past reports that he had studied and reviewed, a jinchūriki was most vulnerable when giving birth. Though, in the end Minato wasn't successful in finding a solution that he liked. Sealing the beast was the only solution that he had been able to come up with, though the price of sealing the beast was condemning himself and the beast to the Shinigami and his children to carrying such a terrible burden. However, fate had decided otherwise.

"You are lucky mortal. Contracting me using the Reaper Death Seal requires that you forfeit your soul and by extension, your life once the sealing is completed. However, removing you from this plane when your family still requires you, you who gave life to the one chosen. For this, I will pardon the requirement of taking your soul, but I will take something dear to not only you but those who are precious to you as compensation. Do not forget this mortal," the Shinigami ominously said, sealing the soul, yin and yang chakra of the Kyūbi into three of his four children; Narumi, Mito, and Menma respectively.

After the sealing and confrontation with the Shinigami was over, the threat of the Kyūbi adverted, Konoha shifted its attention to treating those injured from the event and to rebuild what was lost.

(Scene Change - Konoha Hospital)

"Everyone had better not be slacking! If I even 'think' that you're not giving it your all, I'll drive you through the wall!" roared a beautiful blonde woman with her hair tied in two tails, that woman being one of the Densetsu no Sannin, Tsunade Senju, as she stormed into the hospital after checking on the Uzumaki-Namikaze family.

Glancing around and noticing the lack of attention directed at her due to the crazy atmosphere, Tsunade decided to ask her right hand woman, assistant, and disciple, "What's the situation looking like so far?! Shizune!?" roared Tsunade not seeing her anywhere.

"Tsunade-sama! The injured have been reduced by half thanks to the field staff dealing with situations outside of the hospital that weren't severe enough to warrant admission. From the number of patients and medics, I'd estimate that we're almost finished treating the ones who have been admitted, and I haven't seen more than seven patients be admitted in the past hour. I think that most of the shinobi and villagers who were injured have been taken care of!" replied a pretty yet exhausted woman with shoulder length raven hair, Shizune, Tsunade's assistant and disciple.

Releasing a relieved sigh, Tsunade voiced her relief with the now stable situation at hand. "Whew, that's good. I had imagined that there would've been many more injured than that, thank goodness. That means that all the injured are accounted for, meaning that the village got out in extremely good shape when you compare it to other villages who were attacked by bijū."

Also sharing a sigh of relief with her mentor, Shizune remembered the two who were in the middle of the attack. "Tsunade-sama! You said that all the injured were accounted for right?! What about Kushina-sama and Minato-sama?!" shouted a worried Shizune, having momentarily forgotten about her village's leader and his wife.

"Relax Shizune, they're safe! Minato had a rather severe case of chakra exhaustion but he'll be alright knowing him. Kushina, other than the typical signs of giving birth, is completely fine. Even after having the Kyūbi forced out of her, she's still alive and is going to be fine. She'll be up and about in no more than five hours tops, I'll even make a bet that she will!" Tsunade confidently replied, so confident that she offered to make a bet with Shizune on it, which given her alias as the "Legendary Sucker" was no small statement.

The two shared a relieved and happy laugh as the danger that, no more than 48 hours before, had passed. That is, until Tsunade had assumed that Shizune was also laughing at her extremely bad luck and chased her around the hospital wing, her fist waving threateningly in the air while the other occupants and staff of the hospital laughed in good humor at the antics of the duo.

(Scene Change - Uzumaki-Namikaze estate)

"Minato, are you sure that you're alright? You used theShiki Fūjinbut you didn't lose your soul like what was supposed to happen!" a tall man, with a spiky mane of white hair with red paint on his face worriedly asked his disciple, this man was Jiraiya, one of the Densetsu no Sannin and mentor to Minato.

"Sensei, I told you I'm fine! See, I can do everything without a problem! I need to go see Kushi-chan and my kids, so please stop worrying about me!" Minato replied, creating his fabled Rasengan to emphasize his point to his mentor.

With a sign, Jiraiya relented, patting his student on the shoulder he congratulated him on his defeat of the Kyūbi and of the beginning of his family."I'm proud of you Minato, you've come so far even without my help. I couldn't have asked for a better student." Jiraiya said, pride evident in his voice as he walked with Minato towards the room created specifically for his children.

Walking in quietly, the found what they were looking for. Kushina with her arms full with her, no their children. Wordlessly walking towards her and sitting down, he wrapped her and their children in a loving embrace. "They're beautiful Kushi-chan." Minato said, resting his head on his wife's.

Sinking into her husband's embrace, Kushina sniffled a bit before expressing her sincere thanks to whatever entity that allowed her family to stay together, though what seemed like impossible odds. "Mina-kun, we're together. We're all together. All of us. You didn't have your soul taken, and I survived having the Kyūbi force out. We're going to be able to watch our children grow up and they'll have a family to love and take care of them." Kushina whispered as she sobbed quietly while shaking a little, the all too real possibility that she could've lost her husband and her life, leaving her children alone in the world with no one to care for them taking its toll on her.

Nuzzling his wife and holding her closer, Minato reassured her that nothing would ever threaten to tear about their family again. All through the night, parents and children stayed together until sleep took them as the mental and emotional exhaustion that the two had accumulated had finally reached its peak. As the night continued on, the oldest born of the quadruplets woke, quietly observing his surroundings, finally focusing his attention towards the ceiling as a voice make its way to his ears.

"Child. Child you can hear me, can you not? I am the one who allowed your father to survive his contract with me, the price of his soul replaced with something that will greatly affect you. As the oldest of four, the child of prophecy, and the child who will change the world, you will be without the love of the one's who should hold you close. That is the exchange that I had made in place of your father's soul. You who will be without love, will be the one who will defy all obstacles which will stand before you. Do not fret child, as you will forge a path that will change the world, and remember this, do not give into the hate that will undoubtedly plague your heart in the future to come." A bone chilling voice echoed within his mind, completely unaware of his future, the child slowly looked around the room before returning to sleep, the echoes of that voice repeating quieter each time.


	2. Chapter 1

_(Scene Change - Konohagakure: 7 Years after Kyūbi attack)_

In the private training ground of the Uzumaki-Namikaze estate, five individuals were engaged with training. A boy with shaggy blonde hair with brilliant red tinted tips with deep cerulean blue eyes, standing at around 4ft high, this was Menma Uzumaki-Namikaze, third born of the Uzumaki-Namikaze family, who was chasing around his father Minato, as the two were laughing loudly.

The other two children consisted of two girls of the same height of 4ft, giggling and chatting happily with their mother Kushina, second born of the family was Mito Uzumaki-Namikaze, who had her mother's brilliant red hair that went to the mid of her back tied into a ponytail and her father's cerulean blue eyes. The other was the youngest of the Uzumaki-Namikaze family, Narumi Uzumaki-Namikaze, who had inherited her father's blonde hair that was tied in a twin tails fashion with bangs similar to her father framing her face and her mother's violet colored eyes.

The scene now was a picturesque moment of a happy family spending time together, which would have been true if not for the pair of navy blue eyes watching his family partake in another activity without him. He was the oldest of the Uzumaki-Namikaze children, he was Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, having a darker shade of blonde and darker colored eyes then his family. After heaving a sigh, he returned to his own business, to finish his book, momentarily forgotten for the slim chance that he would be invited to play with his family.

After going back to his own business, reading a book, he sat back down on the tree branch and continued where he left off, he drifted off to the world that the book offered for him as he contemplated his interactions with his family over the years. "It's not going to change is it?. It's been this way for as long as I can remember, and I still don't know why they always leave me out when we do things. Mom and Dad didn't use to be like this... they used to include me in things when I was younger I just know it..." Unknown to Naruto, and his family was the contract that the Shinigami made all those years ago with Minato. Instead of his soul he took the away the feelings of love that Minato, Kushina, and those who were close to the Uzumaki- Namikaze had for Naruto, a twisted exchanged that severed the bonds that he had with his parents and siblings and by extension, those associated with them.

Though his parents did not neglect in terms of shelter, he had to learn to make his own meals and shop for clothes on his own. They did severely neglect him when it came to love. He was forgotten and rejected in favor of his more vocal siblings, Menma in particular ensured his parents pay no attention to himself by being more assertive and vocal with his demands like when it came to where the family was to go eat and the like. This divide was not limited to Menma, Narumi and Mito both stayed a distance away from their older brother like he was an outsider, even though in the past they used to play together like normal siblings, however that ceased happening years ago as Narumi began to act similar to Menma and Mito closed him off from any form of contact with her. From the situations that he's been in up to this point, he didn't think like it would be ending anytime soon.

Letting his head fall onto his pillow, Naruto could only think about what his future would hold. He would rather be hated then completely ignored, but it seemed to the young boy that that was an impossibility. However, he would be starting his ninja training at the academy in the fall, so for now the future seemed brighter than it did in the past year.

(Time skip - 3 years later)

"Kaa-chan! Tou-san! Can't we learn any cool jutsu yet?!" Menma complained as he was balancing a leaf on his forehead little success, his mind set on learning something cooler like his father'sRasenganthen something as boring improving his chakra control.

"Memna-nii, you need to learn to focus more if you want to be a super cool ninja like Kaa-chan and Tou-san, right Tou-san!" Narumi half-lectured her brother and half-asked her father as she was participating in the same exercise that her brother and sister.

Sitting next to Narumi was Mito, trying to concentrate on her own leaf through the ruckus that her younger siblings were causing if the tick marks that were starting to become visible were any indicator. "Menma, Narumi, could you two please quiet down! I'm having trouble concentrating since you two are being so loud!" Mito finally said, releasing her "Nee-san aura" as Minato and Kushina called it. But undeterred by their sister's aura, the two started to argue as to who was better at balancing their leaf as her older sister sighed at the impatience of sibling.

Laughing with his wife, Minato reassured the three that they would be learning something new soon, as soon as they gain a better grip on their chakra control. While Kushina listed off the reasons as to why they needed to polish up their chakra control or else they'd be just like her when she was a genin, a chakra powerhouse without any efficient way to use any of it, which seemed to have worked as the Mito started to work harder as her younger siblings quieted down and started to concentrate seriously with nervous expressions on their faces.

As their children quieted down and started taking their training seriously, Minato and Kushina let their thoughts flow around the chaotic events that have occurred in the past couple of years. Kumo's failed kidnapping attempt on their family friend Hiashi Hyuga's daughter, Hinata. Luckily Minato was on his way to the Inuzuka compound that night to pick drop off Menma when he spotted the Kumo-nin carrying a sack and running. Naturally his response was to put Menma down and chase down the shinobi and apprehend him. Apparently he was a part of a splinter group made of Kumo-nin who were remnants of a radical group back in the time of the Third Shinobi World War, who desperately wanted the byakugan.

Then there was the failed coup d'état orchestrated by Uchiha under the same masked ninja behind the Kyubi's attack all those years ago. From the reports after the incident, those involved were under a particularly powerful genjutsu, warping their perceptions on the world and the things around them. Thanks to Kushina, Minato, Fugaku, Mikoto, and their oldest son Itachi, things were settled with a few injured being the only casualties of the incident due to Minato and Kushina sealing the movements of the involved and to Fugaku, Mikoto and Itachi using their sharingan to disrupt the genjutsu.

Finally their thoughts drifted back to their family, namely to their oldest, who wasn't taking part in training with his sibling. Mixed emotions were swirling within the two as they recounted their past interactions or lack of interaction with him. Confusion and despair began to fill their hearts as the reason as to why they were so distant to their oldest son eluded them, no matter how much they tried to remember. _"What happened? What!? Why can't I find a reason why I've been ignoring him and leaving him behind?!"_ Agitated and confused, Minato mulled over the reason of his neglectful behavior towards his son. _"I... I want to be close to Naruto, but for some reason I can't open my heart to him and I can't help but feel as though that would put Mito, Menma, and Narumi in danger. Why?! Why is that!?"_

While her husband was beginning to question if he was being paranoid or not, Kushina began to think of her oldest as well._ "I've failed as a mother to Naru-Chan haven't I... I... I just can't open my heart to him for some reason. Whenever I try to get back into his life, it feels like something dark and cold enters my heart and I end up chickening out. What happened?"_ Kushina began to feel as if a curse was placed on her to never love her oldest son, which was closer to the truth then she knew, though the truth wouldn't be known to her and her husband for a number of years.

However, their thoughts were broken by a rather upset looking Narumi. "Tou-san! Kaa-Chan! Menma-nii is being mean and cheating! He said that his leaf was balanced and when I looked he blew mine off my hand! Then he said that he won because of that!" Tearfully complained Narumi holding her leaf in one hand while flailing her other arm in a comical fashion as Menma quickly defended himself.

"I did not! Narumi is making things up again Tou-san! Kaa-chan! Ask Mito-nee! She'll tell you that I didn't do any of that! Right Mito-nee! I did balance my leaf and when I told Narumi the wind just happened to blow right at that moment and it was while I was telling her so it looked like I blew her leaf off her hand which I didn't do!" Menma said in his defense, looking tearfully at his older sister for her support in his claim. However, that was not to be this time around.

"Tou-san, Kaa-Chan. Menma did it. You know how he gets when there's he's in a contest, he'll do anything to win. Narumi was almost able to balance her leaf when Menma did that so he could win." Mito said, petting her sister on her head as Menma dropped his in defeat and embarrassment. Defeat because he knew he had lost the argument and embarrassment because he knew he would be getting a lecture from his father and mother.

Sighing to themselves, Kushina and Minato looked at each other before bursting out into laughter at the antics of their children. Seeing their parents laughing, Mito, Menma, and Narumi couldn't help but start laughing and giggling along with them. Though they were laughing together at the moment, Minato and Kushina couldn't help but feel guilty that there was a member of their family that had been forgotten and neglected.

_(Scene change - Unknown forest, unknown location)_

On the other side of the village, there was a boy no older than 10 years old working on his own exercises under the supervision of an individual who looked no older than 20 years old. "Haa... Haa... How was that?" Asked the boy, wiping the sweat on his forehead off with a towel handed to him by his sensei. "Well what can I say... You're doing great Naruto! However, you're still stiff in some of your movements. You know that to use my style of taijutsu you need to have power, fluidity, and speed. But don't worry too much about it alright? You're only ten years old remember!" Naruto's teacher replied in a laid-back tone of voice. He stood at roughly 6ft tall, having a muscular yet lithe build with long brown colored hair in a ponytail that draped around his left shoulder with a stray stand hanging off of on the side in and electric blue eyes that held a twinkle of mischief. Though, instead of round pupils his looked reptilian in nature.

This young man was a memory from the last shinobi world war, working as a shinobi for the Village Hidden under the Sun (Taiyōgakure) that wished to remain neutral from the chaos that consumed the land, having no real military force due to being a rich agricultural village. Known during the war as "Heaven's Catastrophe" due to his unnatural and terrifying mastery and control over wind, fire, and lightning. Tokita Niko had succeeded in his mission to protect Taiyōgakure, inadvertently securing his title and page in the bingo books of various hidden village's due to decimating numerous parties that were attempting to take over Taiyōgakure. Though, only a few survivors were able to make it back to their respective main forces and recall what they had faced. From the reports, it appeared that they had faced a demon in a man's body. Though the correct way to say it would be a dragon in a man's body.

Born the only son of Tatsuya Shirokin and Ayane Hatenko, Tokita was trained in taijutsu by his mother and kenjutsu by his father. Learning ninjutsu and genjutsu from both of his parents, and later signing his family's private summoning contract which required finding a partner that matched his own style and personality. Eventually, his parents passed away by a disease that, from what his mother had told him, plagued their family for generations as a side effect from training alongside their partners, Tokita eventually contracting the same "psychosis virus" that his parents had passed away from. It was called this due to no real symptoms, death became imminent through the user's mind neing plauged by the dead.

"Hey, Tokita... Could I ask you something kind of personal? It's ok if you don't answer me though!" Naruto asked, slowly turning towards Niko with a somewhat bashful expression on his face.

"Haha, no need to be shy Naruto! I'm your Teacher, you can tell me and ask me anything! Unless it's about women. I have no idea what goes on inside of their heads, and from what I've seen and heard, it's really kind of scary." Niko happily replied, though towards the end of his statement he made a mortified face from admitting his lack of knowledge concerning women to his young student.

First making an embarrassed face, Naruto's face quickly turned a little serious with a hint of anger seeping in at his sensei's nonsensical reply concerning him asking about something personal. "Niko! I don't want to know any of that! And I don't care about that! I want to know why you won't fight back! You the strongest person I know! And you just sitting here acting the fool!" Naruto barked out, finally having had enough of his Teacher not taking his 'disease' seriously after knowing about for so long.

You see. Niko had told Naruto someone was coming to kill him and he wasn't going to fight back in the slightest. He didn't lie per se. Someone was coming and that someone was time. He only had a little while left and wanted to do some good. And what's better than the children?

Wiping the mortified look off his face, Niko's expression changed from suprised, to solemn. "Ahh, that's what you wanted to ask about eh? I remember telling you that I wouldn't be able to be your Teacher for very long when I started training you three years ago, guess you wouldn't have forgotten about that huh. Well Naruto, do you really want to know the reason why I don't take my end seriously?" Looking at his student straight in the eyes and asking his question, he saw his student flinch before he nodded his head slowly.

Letting a smile come to his face, Niko walked up to his precious student, put his hand on his head, and ruffled his hair, Naruto bowing his head slightly while his cheeks flushed pink in embarassment and happiness. "Well Naruto, the reason is because I'm going to die no matter what happens so why bother you know?" After hearing his sensei's reply, Naruto's head snapped immediatey up, staring at his sensei with disbelief in his eyes.

From disbelief, Naruto's eyes quickly shifted to anger and confusion. After removing his sensei's hand by grabbing his wrist, Naruto glared at him before yelling at the his sensei. "What do you mean 'why bother'?! You're going to die Tokita Niko! Don't act like you can't do something to defend yourself! You need to find a way sensei!" After venting his anger at his Teacher's dismissal of his death, Naruto began to tear up and started sniffling slightly, whispering something that spoke volumes about the feelings in his heart. "You can't die Niko. You can't leave me alone. I don't want to be along again. I hate being alone." After speaking from his heart, Naruto was crying and sniffling at the thought of being alone in the world again. Niko was the one who talked, played, praised, lectured, and trained him. He was the father figure that he had always wanted, and now Niko could be at the Shinigami's door at any moment. The very thought of losing him terrified Naruto to no end.

"You're the strongest! can't you beat him and stay here?!" shouted Naruto as he continued to stare at the ground. He was furious! His Teacher was the strongest! And he proved it when he took on 6 jonin and beat them with nothing but taijutsu!

Smiling solemnly and once again putting his hand on his student's he ruffled his hair gently. "Naruto... You remember what I said all those years ago when I met you for the first time?"

_(Flashback: Scene change - Unknown lake)_

Sitting on the shoreline of a small lake, boy around 7 years old was skipping rocks alone. His dark blonde hair blowing gently by the breeze, his navy blue eyes filled with sadness and were red and puffy from crying , the tear streaks fresh on his face. His eyes were unfocused, indicating that his mind was somewhere else. Because of that, he didn't take notice of the person who had taken a seat right next to him until he saw another rock that didn't belong to him skip across the surface of the lake. Turning his head, he saw a large person wearing a tattered black cloak, though he was afraid at first he became terrified once the cloaked individual turned to face him and he saw their electric blue eyes staring into his navy blue ones. Though, that fear vanished once they turned away and skipped another rock. Confusion replaced fear, and timidly Naruto gathered the necessary courage to ask the stranger for an introduction. "U-umm... H-hello... W-Who are y-you?" Naruto managed to squeak out, stuttering a bit as the fear returned.

Turning back to face him, the stranger did something that Naruto did not expect. They, or rather he laughed judging from how deep the voice sounded. "Haha, I was wondering when you'd do something! Though I was expecting the old 'scream and run' routine that most kids do when facing a stranger, especially if that stranger is as scary as people say I am!" Laughing after his answer, he pulled back the hood of his cloak to reveal a youthful face and an energetic smile to the boy, who in response smiled back albeit shyly. "The name's Niko Tokita, but just call me Niko! What's your name!" The energetic smile on Niko's face grew into a grin, and finally introducing himself he asked for Naruto's in return. Smiling back a little more, Naruto introduced himself and the two started talking and asking things about each other.

After hearing about Naruto's past and his relationship with his family Niko's happy expression lessen as he told Naruto what was on his mind. "Ahh, I see. Your family isn't really treating you like family huh. Well, you know what I'd say to that Naruto?" I'd say that if they're not treating you like family, like they're supposed to, then forget about them!" Niko said, in a nonchalant tone. He didn't really understand the concept of people he was on his own and hell! He was damn near perfect! But you know people live life the way they want.

Naturally, Naruto was taken back and confused by his expression. From a nice and fun person to a person without a care in the world look in his eyes Niko's drastic one-eighty caused Naruto to flinch slightly, but he still managed to stutter out a reply. "B-But they're my f-family right? They're supposed to l-love me and c-care for me."

Niko quickly lost his relaxed look as he sighed, looking at Naruto again, his eyes were sober which again suprised Naruto. "If they were family Naruto, you wouldn't be asking me that question you know. Family is supposed to love you unconditionally, and care for you without having to be asked to. From what you've told me, they aren't your family. They're just people who share the same blood as you, that alone does not define family you know." Naruto said, reaching out and ruffling Naruto's hair softly.

After Niko started ruffling his hair, Naruto, who has never experienced such a gesture could only lean his head on Niko's hand. Sniffling slightly, he timidly asked something that would change his life. "Then I'm alone. I've always been alone. So am I going to be alone forever then Tokita?" Looking up with teary eyes, Naruto found Niko giving him a warm smile filled and eyes filled with what he saw in his parents whenever his siblings were with them, love and compassion.

"There's no way you're alone you know. I'm right here. I've never been able to have siblings or am I ever going to have children you know. If people found out about their connection to 'Heaven's Catastrophe' they'd be hunted down for the rest of their lives just for being related to me. But, I'll ask you Naruto and you don't have to agree or answer me, but how about becoming my little student?" Asked Ryuuhei almost bashfully, if the light dusting of pink on his cheeks were any indication.

Snapping his head up, Naruto looked at Niko with almost comical disbelief in his eyes but more then that, they were also filled with hope. Hope that what Niko was saying wasn't a twisted lie but an actual offer of becoming a part of a family. Launching himself at the young man, Naruto wrapped his arms around Niko and buried his face in his chest. "Will you really let me be your student? Are going to be my Teacher but not care for me and leave me behind?" Naruto mumbled with doubt heavy in him trembling voice before asking something that made Niko flinch slightly but quickly recover. "Will you always be with me and look out for me? Niko?"

Slowly wrapping his arms around Naruto, Niko brought a hand up to ruffle Naruto's hair gently. "If you're going to ask me like that how can I say no?" Tightening his embrace on his new Student slightly, he replied in a gently voice that soothed all doubts that Naruto had about his new Teacher. "No matter what, I'll always be here for you Naruto. Even if I'm not here physically, I'll alwaysbe with you in your heart as long as you don't forget about me."

Sniffling a little bit before he raised his head, Naruto, for the first time in a number of years, finally revealed a heart melting smile. "Thank you Niko Tokita. Thank you for wanting someone like me." After seeing his otouto's smile, Niko could only smile back in return before hugging Naruto again.

"And thank you Naruto, for wanting to be a part of my life. I'll always be watching you and I'll do my best to make you happy and protect you. I promise." After which Naruto looked up and through teary yet happy eyes, he replied with a smile so bright the sun looked dull in comparison.

"You already have, Niko Tokita!"

_(Flashback end)_

Sniffling and nodding his head, Naruto looked up at Niko and repeated the words that he told him all those years ago after they made their bond as brothers. "You said that you'll always be watching over me and that you'll always try to protect and make me happy." After repeating his Teacher's words, Naruto received another round of head ruffling from Niko.

"That's right, so don't be sad alright. I'll always be in your heart as long as you never forget about me and the times where we laughed, cried, and enjoyed with each other alright? And here, I have something for you. An anniversary present, it's been 3 years since we made that promise to each other remember?" Niko said in a happy tone, handing Naruto a simple black and white scroll.

Looking at his Teacher then reaching timidly for the scroll, Naruto looked at it before voicing his curiosity. "Tokita, what's in here? It looks like a normal scroll, is it another scroll for history or training exercises?"

"Yeah, that scroll contains everything that I've collected over the years including my family's scrolls, various weapons including my personal ones, and other things that you'll have to find out yourself." Before giving his student a smile and patting him on the head. "But hey, we'll save that for next time alright? Get home and we'll pick it up next time alright!"

Wiping the rest of his tears away, Naruto returned his brother's smile before giving him a hug which was returned ten-fold. As he headed home for the night, Naruto felt something inside of his heart nagging at him to stay with his Teacher no matter what he said, but he figured it was because of the talk they had earlier. His Teacher would never leave him, especially after the talk of him possibly dying, right?

The next day, Niko never showed up.


	3. Chapter 2

_(Time skip - 3 years later)_

_(Scene change - Konoha Academy)_

Konoha's Academy, a place for children to prepare for a career of being a shinobi or kunoichi to protect and serve their village. In the classroom being headed by chūnin Iruka Umino and Mizuki were the next generation of potential ninja that would be united under the "Will of Fire", in this particular class held the most notable students in the Academy. Sitting in the front row was Menma Uzumaki-Namikaze with his best friend Kiba Inuzuka, son of the Inuzuka clan head. Beside them were Menma's sisters, Mito and Narumi Uzumaki-Namikaze with their best friends Yakumo Kurama and Hinata Hyuga. Next to them were the Uchiha twins Sasuke and Satsuki, their usual scowls present. Behind them in the second row, were best friends Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi, sons of the Nara and Akimichi clan heads respectively. Next to them sat Ino Yamanaka, daughter of the Yamanaka clan and Sakura Haruno, the daughter of a renown civilian family; best friends and "rivals in love" for the affection of two most popular boys in the class. Finally in the last row of the room sat the quietest individuals of the class; Shino Aburame, son of the Aburame clan head. An isle next to Shino sat Sai, a quiet and artistic individual with no known family. Lastly, next to the window in the back sat Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, the oldest of the Uzumaki-Namikaze siblings and the most distant.

As Iruka and Mizuki called roll before getting ready for the genin exams, everyone quieted down, some nervous others excited for the exam to commence. The exam consisted of multiple parts; a written portion which covered basics in history and tactics. A physical portion which consisted of taijutsu sparring with an instructor and the use of kunai and shuriken. And lastly a ninjutsu portion which tested the proficiency of using the "Academy 3" the 3 being:**Henge no Jutsu**, **Bunshin no Jutsu**, and **Kawarimi no Jutsu**. All of which were needed to be used successfully in order for an academy student to pass. However there was an extra credit or replacement opportunity in which if the student performed a jutsu outside of those three, which would replace the one that they had failed to do or add extra points to their exam, which could be the difference between becoming the rookie of the year.

Seeing the looks of apprehension and excitement on his student's faces, Iruka couldn't help but smile and formally begin the exams. "Alright, well I know a lot of you are nervous and excited so let's begin!" After which, they started calling students to test. Overall, all of the students of this class had passed with many exceeding the needed benchmark, which made Iruka a proud teacher. However, when it came to the oldest of the Uzumaki-Namikaze, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty having seen how far behind he was compared to his other students.

He knew about the stigma that Naruto held, being the oldest child of the clan yet being the weakest. Iruka knew that he should've tried to help his student more but he couldn't for some reason, he blamed it on the fact that it would've probably be seen as favoritism and he didn't want that but looking back, it probably would've been the right thing to do, despite what people would have said. Naruto was probably tied for dead-last of the year, next to the children who weren't serious in becoming ninja. He managed to pass by the skin of his teeth on the written and physical exams, scoring usually 1 point over the failing threshold and landing his kunai and shuriken 1 over the needed amount to pass. Something about those results seemed strange to Iruka, but he brushed it off as mere coincidence.

Snapping back to the present, Iruka found himself staring into the navy blue eyes of the very student he was thinking about. No matter how many times he saw it, the lack of life that should be in a student's, no child's eyes, were nonexistent in his. Naruto's eyes were dull and didn't hold the twinkle or spark that other kids his age had, rather his eyes looked like they were neutral to the world. But he quickly regained his focus, and proceeded with the exam.

Smiling widely, Iruka handed Naruto his headband with a congratulation in hand. "Congratulations Naruto! I know that you'll succeed out in the field!" However, instead of a smile or hug, he got a blank stare, a small bow, and a quiet "thank you," before his student left the academy for home. _"I feel like you're going to become a great shinobi Naruto. I'm sorry that I couldn't support you through your schooling here, but I'll definitely try and help you out there."_ Looking at the retreating form of his student, Iruka expressed his final thoughts, before calling the next person in line for the test.

_(Scene change - Outside the Academy)_

After receiving his headband, Naruto put it into his pocket before he started on his way home. The last few years since his aniki had passed were difficult, not from the treatment that he received from the people around his village, but from the scroll that he received from him. Looking back, when he was coping with Niko's death he was acting like a spoiled brat who had their favorite toy taken away, angrily lashing out at anyone and hating the world for taking away the one person who cared for him in the world. But that all changed once he actually looked inside of the scroll that his brother had left him.

_(Flashback start - 2 and a half years ago)_

_Huddled on the same shoreline that him and his brother were on when they first met, Naruto still couldn't get over the fact that his brother was gone, even after half a year of grieving._

_"Why, why do I always have to have something taken away from me. First it was my family's love and now Ryuu-niichan. Why? Why?! Why!?" Naruto was growing progressively more angry and hateful at this world who took away the only person who cared for him, and was about to do something regrettable that was until a scroll fell out of his backpack as he stood up. Looking down, he immediately recognized it as the last gift he had gotten from both his brother and anyone in the past few years. He had forgotten about it, having never opened it after figuring out that he'd never see his brother again. Holding the scroll carefully, it unraveled it and saw a seal. Recognizing it as a simple storage seal it released whatever was inside, which was a note. Reading it over, Naruto started to tear up, tightening his grip slightly and by extension crumpling the note a little._

_"Naruto, if you're reading this then you probably know that I'm not going to be with you any longer. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Naruto; I'm sorry that I won't get to see you graduate the Academy, I'm sorry I won't get to celebrate your birthdays anymore with you, I'm sorry that I won't be able to embarrass you on a date with your girlfriend, I'm sorry that I'm such a horrible brother. I know that you'll probably never forgive me for leaving you behind but know this, know that I'll always be looking out for you. Even now, I'm looking out for you. I know that your upset, hurt, angry, sad, and a hundred other things but never give into any of those negative emotions otouto; they only lead to pain and more hate. I know that you're stronger then that, I'm the one who did train you remember?_

_Naruto, inside this piece of paper is what I promised you on that day. It contains a large scroll which can only be opened by smearing you blood on it with a little bit of chakra and it contains everything that I said it would. It has my life savings, down to the last ryo sealed within. My family's techniques and secrets, my own techniques and secrets, the weapons that I've collected and my own swords. It also contains all of my research on information on various things in the world that I hope you never reveal to anyone else. In addition it also contains my family's summoning contract, once you're old enough sign it and you'll be reverse summoned to 'Thousand Blade Mountain' the home of the demons. Yes Naruto, the same demons that I told you stories about. Once there don't be afraid, they all act mean, big, and scary but once you break past their rough exterior they're all very kind and loyal. Ask for my partner, Griffon, and tell him that you're my little brother and he'll defend and vouch for you. After all that is settled find a partner who'll compliment you and that you can bond with. You'll know when you find them, trust me._

_Naruto, remember that no matter what anyone says, you're the strongest, and kindest person that I've known and had the pleasure to call my student. Don't give into the hate that plagues this land, rise above it and prove that you have the blood of a dragon running through your veins. I've made a training schedule of tai, nin, gen, ken, kin, and a little bit of fuinjutsu for you for the next few years along with training from the elders, until you turn 18 and I know that you'll be able to follow it and benefit from it, after that I'm sure you'll have already mastered everything that I've to teach you. Lastly, find a someone who you can relate to and get to know them. Find someone who you can trust without reason and if possible, find happiness with someone Naruto. I know that you'll make me proud, and that you'll become a great shinobi. So until we meet again in the afterlife Naruto, remember that I love you and that I'm always watching over you."_

_By the end of the letter, Naruto was sobbing loudly, wiping his tears away with the sleeve of his jacket. After sobbing for over half an hour, Naruto made a promise to himself that he would follow what his brother asked him to do, to train and to hopefully find happiness. But as far as Naruto was concerned, becoming strong was the top priority on his list. The first thing he did was nick his thumb, smear his blood over the seal and begin training. "Niko Tokita. I will become strong, so that once we meet again, I'll be able to stand next to you as your equal."_

_(Flashback end)_

Sighing to himself, he could only be embarrassed that he acted like he did, his partner would be mortified if he ever found out. But once he got over Niko's death, he began to notice things that started to unnerve him greatly. Over the past 2 years, he started to notice that people were starting to pay more attention to him. It originally started out small with people actually looking at him, instead of through him. That would've been fine, as he didn't really want anything to do with people as his only objective was to follow his training schedule, however last year was when it got to the point where they started talking to him. Originally he wanted to ignore them like they had done to him, but he remember that his Teacher asked him to be above hate and doing that would undoubtedly cause people to hate him, so he settle for giving quick responses which worked for quite some time.

That is until his 'family' started to try to talk to him. Menma was the same arrogant and obnoxious person Naruto remembered him to be. Mito and Narumi acted like nothing had ever come between them, talking to him in a overly familiar way which irritated him to no end, and his parents were the worst. They tried to coddle him like some child, they were a few years late for that as he was already self-sufficient by the time Niko had "adopted" him as his younger brother. It got worse when they tried to include him into their training sessions, which he always skipped out of, their training years behind his in his opinion. Though he desperately wanted to snap at them and demand the reason as to why they were suddenly acting like he always existed, he knew it would be waste of time. In the end, he treated them the same way he treated everyone else, distant and without any form of attachment. But slowly, Niko's words of not giving into the hate and finding happiness in his life were starting to take effect on him. While knew he wouldn't love his family he wouldn't hate them either, at least not until they did something to garner one or the other.

His thoughts were broken when he spotted the same people he was just thinking about, his family happily chatting with other families about their kids. Closing his eyes and ignoring the happenings around him, he just carried on his way home, that is until someone put their hand on his shoulder. He didn't even need to open his eyes to know that it belonged to his father Minato. Cracking one eye open, he glanced at his father with the same dull look in his eye and questioned him as to why he was stopped.

"...Is there a reason why you're stopping me?" Naruto asked, his voice quiet without a hint of warmth or familiarity.

Minato had seen his oldest walking out of the classroom alone, without waiting for his siblings to finish. Deciding that it might help mend the relationship that they had, he stopped his son. However, while he expected the tone of voice and look that his son gave him, it still pained him greatly. Over the course of the past 2 years, Minato had begun to notice that he didn't feel the unease that he used to feel when he saw Naruto. Before, he felt the same way he did about a stranger interacting with his family, but that slowly started to change. At first he was suspicious but as time went on, the feeling of unease completely disappeared and it was replaced with a longing to reconnect with his son. However, his plan to reconnect Naruto with the family failed miserably. He avoided speaking to any of them for more than a sentence, two if they were lucky, and when he did speak he spoke with an overly formal manner his voice quiet and without a hint of warmth, not even calling him 'tou-san' and Kushina 'kaa-san' anymore. It was like speaking to a stranger one had just met. Though, Minato wasn't deterred, he was set on reconnecting the bond that they all once had.

"I wanted to ask why you're leaving already, aren't you going to wait for your siblings to finish Naruto?" asked Minato in a soft tone of voice, a voice Naruto had only recently been exposed to personally, and it unnerved him slightly to hear it from someone other then Niko.

However Naruto answered "I'm sorry Minato-san, but I would rather not wait for them. Please excuse me." Though as he turned to leave, he was met by a red headed missile, his mother Kushina. Kushina like Minato, lost the apprehension that she used to have when she saw and interacted with Naruto and was doing her absolute best to try and get her son back into the family. Though she was met with the same treatment as her husband and everyone else for that manner.

"Naru-chan! Congrats on passing your genin exams! Where were you going? You're going to wait for your siblings to finish right?" Kushina released Naruto from her hug and asked him in confused manner. She then looked at Minato and saw him shake his head which made her frown. "Naru-chan, you need to wait for you siblings you know. It's only polite since they're you family." Kushina scolded Naruto, however he just looked back at her with the same blank navy blue eyes before retorting.

"Kushina-san, you know that they've never been made to wait for me before. Why should I be expected to wait for them when they haven't shown the same courtesy to me?" Naruto questioned, and Kushina winced at this dismissal of calling her "Kaa-can" but brushed it off, though she found herself unable to answer his question. He was right in his statement, she never made any of her other children wait for their older brother, but this only serve to fuel her desire to unite her family once and for all. "Naru-chan, I know that we're not on the best terms as family. I know that for a long, long time we've been very bad parents and your siblings haven't been the best either. But we're still family you know, and family needs to care for each other and stick together." Kushina spoke in a soft tone, looking at her oldest in the eyes.

Once Kushina said those words, Naruto's mind flashed back to the memories that he shared with Ryuuhei, then to the words that he had told him about what a real family was. "Family is supposed to love you unconditionally, and care for you without having to be asked to. From what you've told me, they aren't your family. They're just people who share the same blood as you, that alone does not define family you know." Snapping out of his short stroll through his memories, he figured it would be less of a hassle if he just entertained their request. Crossing his arms, Naruto turned towards the Academy waiting for his siblings to emerge.

Seeing their oldest listen to their request and accept it made Minato and Kushina happy beyond words if the matching smiles on their faces were any indication. They knew that they would have a long and difficult road towards rebuilding their relationship with their son, but they owed it to him. The guilt and shame that plagued their hearts were unfathomable seeing how their oldest was practically a stranger in his own family tore at their hearts, and they knew that it was their fault and theirs alone. Over the last 2 years, the feelings that they should've always had for him slowly started to surface for the first time in their lives, that alone confused and frightened them. From viewing their oldest son as a stranger and potential threat to the safety of their family to seeing him as what he really was, as their oldest son who they love and care for, it baffled them to no end. But after having a heart to heart with each other, Minato and Kushina had promised to reconnect their oldest and give him the love that he deserved and more. Soon, the two were broken out of their thoughts as they were the tell tale signs of their youngest daughter if her shouting of "Tou-san" and "Kaa-chan" were any indication.

Narumi's day couldn't have gotten better, she had just passed her genin exams and made it as one of the top contenders for "Kunoichi of the Year" and "Rookie of the Year" along with her brothers and sister. Though, there was one things that did make her sad and that her heart yearned for, that was the love and attention of her oldest brother, Naruto.

She knew that she was never the ideal little sister towards her brother. Ever since she could remember, she felt afraid of him. When they were growing up, she could remember that whenever she would try and ask him to play with her or talk to him, there would be a feeling of fear that would overtake her heart and cause her to stop. It only got worse as she grew up, as she got older whenever she would see her big brother, something inside of her as a human being screamed that he was dangerous and to stay away from him at all costs. Of course, she was a child then and followed her instincts, but looking back she regretted every moment of it. Though, the last two years were strange. The primal fear that she had for her brother slowly started to fade away, and in its place was replaced by adoration and desire for her brother to accept and forgive her for all she's done. Now the only thing that stood in her way of loving her brother was him, himself. But that wasn't going to stop her from getting what she wanted, everyone knew that an Uzumaki never gave up until they've got what they wanted.

After catching the sight of her mother's striking crimson hair and her father's brilliant blonde, Narumi cheerfully ran towards them. Happiness and excitement filling her heart, she was about to launch herself at them until she caught sight of a slightly darker shade of blonde next to them. It was her brother, Naruto. Her brother was... waiting for her? He was really waiting for her? Did he finally forgive her? A light dusting of pink colored her cheeks as she changed the trajectory of her hug and instead of her parents, launched herself at her brother.

"Naru-nii!" Narumi squealed happily and with affection, as she met her target, wrapping her brother in a hug. "Naru-nii, did you wait for me!? Did you really! I hope you didn't wait too long! I'm sorry if you did! I really am!" Narumi fired off questions as to how long her brother had waited and if he did it espeically for her.

To say Naruto was uncomfortable would be putting it lightly, while he did expect to be greeted by his exuberant younger sister, he wasn't prepared to be glomped by her. Unless it was contact from sparring, he didn't do well with physical contact with others, he wasn't quite used to it yet. Slowly, he managed to detach the blonde from himself and was met with a pout in return. "To answer your question Narumi, I am waiting for all of you to finish. And no, I didn't wait long." Naruto replied in his usual deadpanned voice. Though that didn't deter Narumi for long, after hugging and getting a congratulations from her parents she went right back to Naruto and hugged his arm to her chest with a cherry smile on her face.

"Ok Naru-nii! We'll for Mito-nee and Menma-nii together then!" Narumi chirped with a smile on her face, much to Naruto's chagrin. Naruto could only sigh as his sister giggled as she tightened her grip on him. Off on the side, Minato and Kushina could only smile at the scene, Narumi always managed to ignored the cold and distant aura that Naruto had and it always warmed their hearts to see their youngest able to breach the armor around their son's heart. Soon, they spotted the blonde and crimson hair of their remaining 2 children, both with smiles on their faces.

Menma was feeling like he was on top of the world, not only did he destroy the genin exam, he was sure that he'd be the one who'd become "Rookie of the Year". However, his mood quickly rose as he saw his family waiting for him with smiles on their faces. Quickening his pace, he ran towards them only for his mood to drop like a rock in lake. He saw his brother there as well. It was well known in the village that Menma didn't like his brother, the word most would use would be detested or disgusted, however that wasn't how Menma truly felt. Menma had admired his older brother when they were young, always imitating what he would do when they were children. But as he grew older, he began to feel inferior to his brother for some reason. It only grew as they did, Menma becoming more vocal and demanding when Naruto would speak his mind or give a suggestion, in order to overrule Naruto's suggestion with his own. Eventually, Menma's feeling of inferiority turned into dislike which eventually created a gap between the two.

During the past 2 years, Menma's feelings of inferiority and hate began to fade away, though he still did not view Naruto as his equal nor treat him any differently. Menma had seen his grades both written and physical, and he knew that he was definitely stronger and smarter then his brother. Menma wouldn't be apologizing to his older brother anytime soon, not until Naruto is able to stand as his equal. Though in a small part of Menma's heart, he honestly did want to become close to his brother again so that they would be able to do things that only brothers are be able to do like talk about which girl is the cutest, pulling pranks together, and especially train together. But being as prideful as he was, Menma wouldn't be admitting that anytime soon.

His face visibly souring, Menma sneered at his brother. "What the heck are you doing here loser? Shouldn't you still be begging sensei to let you pass?" Menma spat out, his eyes narrowed.

Minato and Kushina were well aware of their sons' volatile relationship but they didn't think that it was this bad. But before they could say anything, the final member of their family spoke out in her older brother's defense.

Mito was happy, rather she was ecstatic. She had seen her older brother pass his test and the possibility that they would be on the same team had increased. Like Narumi, when she was young, Mito had a primal fear of her older brother for some strange reason. But like everyone else, within the last 2 years her fear disappeared and was replaced with the same adoration and desire for her older brother's love and affection that Narumi had. Though unlike her sister, Mito didn't rush in like Narumi did, her philosophy was try and slowly work her way back into her older brother's heart. But there were times where she would break that, and this was one of those times.

"Menma, didn't you see that Naruto-nii was one of the first to earn his headband? You're always sitting in the front aren't you?" Mito said her eyes narrowed at Menma's insult towards her older brother. Though, when she saw her younger sister so closely attached to him, Mito's eye twitched in both irritation and jealousy. But before anything else happened, Naruto decided to finally speak up.

"Well, now that the exams are over I'll be seeing you all later." Managing to once again pull his arm free of his youngest sister's grasp Naruto started walking away, unconcerned with the slightly hurt look in his family's eyes and the angry look in Menma's.

"Guess making him wait for everyone to finish was asking for too much Mina-kun." Kushina said sadly looking at the retreating form of her son. Feeling an arm wrap around her waist, Minato pulled her in close and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

"It'll be ok Kushi-chan." After comforting his wife, Minato turned towards his remaining children. "Alright kids, why don't we go get something special to eat in honor of all of you becoming genin!" Instantly he got eager nods from his kids, though one voiced her concerns.

"Ne, Tou-san. What about Naru-nii? Shouldn't we go get him?" Narumi asked the question on both her and Mito's mind, and even a tiny bit of Menma's. Smiling at her consideration of her older brother, Minato patted her head.

"You know how your brother likes his space Umi-chan, we'll all be able to have dinner together one day. I promise." Seeing his daughter sadly nod her head, he decided to take lead them into the village for a night of celebrations.

_(Scene change - Unknown lake)_

Arriving at his destination just as the sun was starting to set, Naruto once again found himself at the lake where he and Niko met, a gentle breeze blowing. Smiling slightly, he reminisced about the fond memories that he had with his older brother. Reaching into his backpack, he pulled out a familiar scroll. Unsealing small, small bottle of sake and saucer from a seal that read "Graduation", Naruto filled up a saucer and smiling, he poured it carefully into the lake before filling it once again to down it himself. The bottle only held enough sake for two saucers and that was enough for Naruto. Laying down on his back his arms crossed behind his head, he let his mind flow back to the times he shared with his older brother as he closed his eyes.

As Naruto listened to the soft blow of the breeze, he didn't notice the silhouette of a person sit down next to him. As the wind blew his hair gently, the silhouette slowly reached over and ruffled his hair softly. As he felt a very warm and familiar sensation, Naruto slowly descended to the world of sleep, as his mind slowed the ambient noises of the wind quieted to nothingness, he caught a voice in the wind. Naruto fell asleep, never noticing the tears that were falling down his face and the small smile on his lips.

_"Congratulations otouto."_


	4. Chapter 3

_(Scene change - Hokage's office)_

Inside the office of the Hokage, two figures could be seen discussing a topic that was on the minds of everyone who were associated with the newly graduated genin, that topic being the teams that they would be placed on. Heading the meeting was of course, Minato, being the Hokage he had the final word as to who was on what team with which instructor. Given a record of each individual genin, listing their strengths, weaknesses, special attributes, and other notable traits.

The second was the final of the Densetsu no Sannin, Orochimaru. Orochimaru was once considered a traitor, having been arrested after suspicion about what went on in the lab that he operated. Having no doubts about his innocence, he willingly let the anbu squad led by Minato and Jiraiya search his lab. However, what he didn't expect was to be attacked by his best friend and Minato then have suppression seals put on him. At first he was outraged, demanding why he was being arrested, but soon that anger turned into shock as he was saw what was inside of his lab. His lab, normally spotless and sterile, was covered in blood and gore. At first, he thought it was a genjutsu that someone had placed on him but after futilely trying to release it, he knew that it wasn't an illusion. After he was taken to Ibiki Morino for interrogation. Though, after he asked that they have Inochi Yamanaka to prove his innocence by reviewing the past few hours of his life they apologized and released the seals on him. During the interrogation, they had found that it his second apprentice Kabuto who had framed him. Kabuto had been stealing information and resources from his lab for his ex-teammate Hiruko, who was banished after his experiments on human subjects were found by Orochimaru and Jiraiya. Though, they were unable to find Kabuto even with multiple squads of anbu dispatched throughout the village.

After the incident, Minato and Jiraiya apologized for their mistake, Jiraiya espeically. However, he brushed them off saying that they were only doing their duty and that he would have done the same. Originally he was bitter and angry that his sensei and the Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had chosen Minato as the Yondaime. But after Hiruzen talked to him about his reason, he grudgingly accepted. But slowly, he grew to like the boy thanks in part to Jiraiya forcing him out of his lab to meet with him for a drink from time to time. Now, he was the head of the Torture and Interrogation Force and main consultant when it came to building teams as he oversaw all outgoing genin from the Academy and had some insight as to what went on inside of their minds due to his position.

"That being said Minato, what do you think of those for the potential team builds?" Orochimaru asked, showing Minato a diagram with multiple different team compositions, ranging from tracking, assault, and support. After pointing out the candidates that would only be able to fill one role due to their skill set, he brought out a chart showing the candidates that could fill multiple roles in a squad.

"So far the teams look great, thank you Orochimaru!" Minato expressed his sincere thanks, as squad building in the past was a difficult process of basically putting genin together and seeing if they would work or not. But with Orochimaru, squads that have been assembled with his insight have had a 94.7% rate of successful squad dynamics. "But I am concerned about one thing."

Orochimaru was a little surprised as usually Minato almost never any qualms over the suggestions that he made, though he had a sneaking suspicion as to what it was about. "What's your concern Minato? It's over your children isn't it?" His suspicions were validated when Minato rubbed the back of his head in embarassment.

Minato voiced his confusion as to why his oldest wasn't included on the possible squad list. "Yeah, you hit it right on the mark Orochimaru. I wanted to know I didn't see Naruto's name on any of the squad suggestions that you showed me." After hearing his question, Orochimaru sighed.

"Minato, you and I both know that your oldest son was treated like he never existed by both his family and the village, myself included. Though we both know that, because of that he doesn't trust anyone not even you." Orochimaru stated, seeing how Minato was about to retort. "Do you know how he performed in the Academy Minato?"

After hearing the question, Minato frowned and nodded his head. "I do Orochimaru, from what I hear from practically everyone, he's the dead last of the Academy. Even more so then the students who weren't serious on becoming ninja. His performance on the written and physical exams bring barely passable, it's actually a miracle that he passed." Minato said, his voice thick with guilt and shame.

"That being said, have you ever seen his actual scores and performance on the written and physical exams?" Seeing Minato shake his head in the negative, Orochimaru took out Naruto's file and handed it to Minato. After taking it and opening, he didn't see what Orochimaru was trying to hint at. Though he did wince when he saw how poorly his son did. Seeing that Minato didn't get it, Orochimaru could only sigh. "You don't see it do you Minato, isn't it suspicious that his grades are more varied? How on every single exam, physical and written, he has managed to score 1 point above the failing threshold. That alone warrants suspicion, it's as if he is deliberately placing himself low in order to conceal his strengths, now that I'm thinking about it more clearly, I'm sure that he's intentionally hiding his skills. Though for what reason, I'm not sure of." Orochimaru said, his brows furrowed in thought.

Minato just couldn't wrap his mind around why his oldest would intentionally hide his skill if he was as skilled as Orochimaru was making him out to be. "But why hide his skills? If he has the skill, why doesn't he show them to everyone? It sounds as if you're making him out to be a prodigy, if he was, he'd be the talk of the village!"

"That's why I didn't place him with any of squads that I made Minato. I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but my personal assessment of him is that he's a potential flight risk. He trusts no one in the village and because of that has no loyalty or love for it either." As soon as Orochimaru finished his assessment, he was met with an angry and accusatory glare from Minato.

"What are you implying Orochimaru? Are you saying that my son is a potential threat to his squad mates and sensei, and a threat to the village?" Minato wasn't happy that Orochimaru thought of his son as a threat to the safety of his ninja and village. He knew that his some wasn't treated the best, but he wouldn't turn on the village. Would he?

Seeing that Minato was feeling conflicted on this matter, Orochimaru relented. "Minato, I'll assign Naruto to a squad on the condition that my apprentice be his sensei. Not only because I trust her and you trust me, but she's one of the only people in the village that would be able to assess his mental state from observation alone. The only others being myself, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Ibiki, and Shizune. But I don't think that they should be removed from their posts for one genin, even if that genin is possibly unstable and your son."

Minato thought about the situation deeply, on one hand he wanted to trust his instincts that his son wasn't a threat but considering that Orochimaru said about him trusting no one was undoubtedly true, eventually, he had to place his village over his son as much as it pained him to do so. "Alright Orochimaru, let's go with your plan. I'll trust that Anko won't be too... Anko, right?" Seeing Orochimaru's wry smile in return, he could only hope that his son doesn't get pushed to the edge by his sensei.

"Well now that we have that settled, let's rebuild the squads then. Starting with the ones who have the most flexibility in regards to possible positions." As he brought out a rooster and proceeded to highlight and circle prime individuals.

_(Scene change - Naruto's training ground)_

Back in the area that he and Niko had first met, Naruto was going over his plan for the future. Having become a genin, he had also become an adult in the world. His first order of business was to move out of the compound that his family lived in, and find his own place to call home.

The second regarded a much more serious topic, the being the dead last facade that he had built up over the past 4 years. It had worked as he intended in getting people to underestimate him, even if he was the son of the Hokage. But the problem now lied in whether or not he actually started to act seriously. Making such a large jump in skill would definitely raise alarms with everyone that knew him, espeically his family, but considering no one ever paid attention to him, he could just write it off as him not trying because it wouldn't be worth the effort. That seemed like a plausible yet paper-thin excuse, but it'd do, he didn't need to explain his reasons to anyone.

The final topic was one that was a bit touchy, but he needed to get over it. Now that he would be moving out and he was an adult, he needed to get over the fact the village basically erased his existence from it. While he wasn't going to betray the village or curse it, he wouldn't love it. It'd be just a place where he ate, slept, and worked for; the same would be applied to the people of the village. He'd act professionally with his teammates, his sensei, the merchants, villagers, other ninja, and his family. He wasn't going to let anywhere near his heart ever again, he'd pardon their past transgressions but that'd be it. His plan set, he headed towards his soon to be ex-home.

_(Time skip - One week later)_

_(Scene change - Konoha Academy: Iruka's classroom)_

Seeing the uncontained energy and excitement of his students, Iruka could only smile at them. Until they were ignoring the fact that the bell had rung. "Alright everyone, SIT DOWN AND QUIET!" Implementing his village renownKyotou no Jutsu, his students immediately quieted down and finally focused their attention to him. "Good, now that I have your attention I'll be naming the squads that the Hokage has assigned you to."

Starting with the students with limited skill sets, the squad list slowly approached the rounded genin. "Team 7 will consist of: Menma, Mito and Narumi Uzumaki-Namikaze. Your sensei Kakashi Hatake " At that moment, many groans and complaints rang out about the newly dubbed 'Strongest Team', 'Team Hokage's Kids'. Most were about the loss of their crush to be on their team. Though the genin involved only let their heads pound the desk the unfortunate luck of having to stick with and deal with their siblings even when out on missions, and of having to deal with their perverted and habitually late older brother figure.

After quieting down the class once more, Iruka continued. "Team 8 will consist of: Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame. Your sensei, Kurenai Yūhi. Team 9 is still active. Team 10 will consist of: Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi. Your sensei, Asuma Sarutobi." At that, Ino practically broke the desk she was at when her head slammed onto it. Crying about how she was put on the worst possible team, while behind her Shikamaru muttered a quiet "Mendōkusei".

His eye twitching slightly at the rude behavior of his student, Iruka could only sigh before continuing. "Team 11 will consist of: Genji Shimada, Sakura Haruno, and Sai. Your sensei, Genma Shiranui." Though, he was once again interrupted when Sakura rose out of her seat and flashed a victory sign at Ino claiming that the power of love prevails over all obstacles, as Sai let his head drop.

For the final time, Iruka could only drop his head at his student's behavior before calling out the final team. "The final team will be Team 12, which will consist of: Sasuke Uchiha, Satsuki Uchiha, and Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. Your sensei, Anko Mitarashi." At that, the class went deathly quiet and some slowly turned their eyes towards the back where their most distant classmate sat. Of course, the lull was broken when Iruka announced that their sensei's would be coming to pick them up soon.

As soon as that statement left his mouth, Kurenai arrived to pick up her team. Following her were Asuma and Genma. Left in the room were Team 7 and 12, Team 7 already knowing that they had a long wait ahead of them. After half an hour, the window flew open, followed by a kunai attached to a banner that read "The great and sexy Anko Mitarashi has arrived", as a smoke bomb went off. Out of the smoke emerged Anko wearing her signature grin and glint in her eyes.

Seeing the disbelief in the eyes of the genin, she couldn't help but snicker at them. "Well, which of you brats belong to me! If you're a part of my team, then we're meeting at training ground 12 in 15 minutes! Don't be late or I'll hunt you down, on second thought please be late! It'll make thinks more fun for me! Ja ne!" After saying her part, she jumped out the window. After processing what just happened, Naruto let out a sigh as he stood up and walked out the door towards the training ground. Seeing their teammate leave, Satsuki and Sasuke followed him out the door leaving Team 7 behind.

_(Scene change - Training ground 12)_

Arriving with 3 minutes left to spare, Naruto, Satsuki, and Sasuke stood awkwardly as they waited for their sensei to arrive. But they didn't have to wait long, as a pouting Anko dropped from the tree that they were standing under.

"You brats are no fun at all, it would've been more interesting and fun if I had to find and drag you here. But oh well, why don't we get to know each other!" Anko happily said, but instead of a quick response she got blank stares. But that was quickly broken when Sasuke raised his hand to ask a question.

"Anko-sensei, could you begin? I don't think that we know the proper way to introduce ourselves." Sasuke asked, unsure on how to break the ice with his new team. But his concerns were eliminated as his sensei gave a grin and started things off.

"Well I'm Anko Mitarashi as you all know! My likes are snakes, Orochimaru-sensei, my best friend Kurenai, dango, poison, sharp things, and reading! My hate perverts, rapists, people who act like they're superior to others, bad dango, and a boring book. My hobbies are working at the TI Division and hanging out with my friends. And my goal is to one day surpass Orochimaru-sensei as his apprentice! Now that I'm done, why don't you go next since you asked!" After her introduction, Anko turned towards Sasuke and decided that he was the next one to introduce himself.

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha, nice to meet all of you. My likes are training with my tutor elder sister, reading, mochi and being with my family. I also hate perverts, rapists, people who mock others for stupid reasons or reasons outside of their control, and people who look down on the Uchiha. My hobbies are cooking, gardening, flower arranging and training. My goal is to repay Minato and Kushina-sama for saving our clan and to surpass a certain someone to claim their title." Sasuke stated with a small fire burning in his eyes towards the end. After her introduction, Anko pointed towards the scowling Satsuki.

"Nice to meet you Sasuke-chan! So you're the one that Kushina-chan always talks about huh! Why don't you go next Miss Sunshine!" As Sasuke blushed slightly, Satsuki growled at Anko and received a grin in return.

"I'm Satsuki Uchiha. My likes are training, reading, cooking and gardening. I hate are perverts, rapists, weaklings, useless people, and people who break their promises. My hobbies are pretty much the same as my likes. And my goal is to surpass my brother Itachi as a ninja and my mother as a woman." Satsuki said in her usual snarky tone though it turned surprisingly bashful when she mentioned surpassing her mother as a woman.

Smirking at the her, Anko finally pointed to the second male member of the squad and gestured him to begin. "Alright, well the two of you are done so why don't you introduce yourself Blondie!" Half expecting a twitching of the eyebrows or a glare, Anko was a little surprised when all she received was a blank stare from Naruto.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. I don't have many likes, though one is ramen. I don't have many dislikes either. My hobby is training. As for my goal... My goal is... I'm unsure whether to beat him or continue on." Introducing himself in his usual deadpan, Naruto finished his introduction. Though, his goal caused quite a stir within his squad, all of them knew that he had no bonds to speak of so this person he wanted to beat had to have been someone special.

"And who would that be Blondie?" Very curious, Anko asked the obvious question however she was met with his patented blank stare once more followed by _"It doesn't concern you."_ Which irked her a lot, but instead of acting on it now she decided it was a good time to let her genin know about the test that they would be given.

"Well, now that most of us have introduced ourselves," she shot Naruto a look. "you're still not truly genin of the leaf yet. You all still have one more test that you need to get through before you're field ready! So, tomorrow! Meet back here at 10am sharp and don't eat any breakfast, I promise you that you'll just see it again within the hour!" With that, Anko disappeared in a swirl of leaves using the **shunshin no Jutsu**.

After their sensei left, Satsuki and Sasuke gave each other a glance. They weren't on the best terms but weren't on the worst either. Most of this stemmed from Satsuki and Mito's rivalry, Sasuke somehow getting caught in the middle. He had a rivalry with Menma but he had to stop Satsuki before she ended up ACTUALLY hurting someone. You see, it was discovered that Satsuki had gone through a traumatic experience during her time under the genjutsu during the coupe dètat. It was because of this that Satsuki's Sharingan had suffered some difficulties so she had to go through some extra training. Sasuke's had yet to develop his. However, they were on a team now so it was in their best interest to get along, at least that was Sasuke's train of thought.

"Satsuki, I know that we're not best friends or friends at all, so why don't we start now since we're on a team now?" Sasuke asked, hoping that she'd accept his offer of friendship.

Satsuki really wanted to just leave and go home to train or cook or do something other then get along with her brother, but she knew that she'd get an earful from her parents and older brother if she didn't at least try to get to know him, so she just sighed and accepted. "Sure, whatever. Just don't try and be all chummy with me, we're not friends just teammates."

Nodding to Satsuki, they two began to head towards the center of the village, but before they left the training ground, they froze. Remembering that they had one more teammate, they turned around to see that he was already walking away reading a scroll. Looking at each other, they didn't know what they should do, though they settled on trying to invite him, considering how that was the most that they've heard him talk so they assumed that it would be alright to ask.

"Naruto, do you want to come get dinner with us? We might as well considering we're all on a team now, so we should try to get along." Sasuke asked, as they managed to catch up to the blonde. However, he was met with silence as he was too engrossed in his scroll to notice him and Satsuki. While Sasuke was a little amused, having had moments where she also tuned out the world when reading, Satsuki didn't take being ignored too kindly. Growling while she stomped towards him, she grabbed his shoulder and forced him to stop.

Naruto was almost finished with the scroll that the others had given him when he felt a hand on his shoulder and smelled sweat with the hint of "lily-of-the-valley", and upon turning around he was met with an angry Uchiha.

"...Is there something that I can help you with Satsuki-san?" Naruto asked, wondering why the usually brooding and scowling girl stopped him.

"Are you weak and deaf?! We've been trying to get your attention for the past minute! Kami, why did I have to be paired with you out of all of the other Uzumaki-Namikaze, Menma would've been better, I'd even settle for Mito." As Satsuki went on a tangent, Naruto could only stare at her blankly, as Sasuke sighed beside her. Having had enough of her rambling, Naruto poked her on the forehead similar to how he had seen her older brother do and the reaction was almost instantaneous as she snapped out of her rambling immediately.

"Wha-What are you doing you idiot! Just don't touch me whenever you feel like it you pervert!" Satsuki shouted, her cheeks tinged red with embarrassment and anger. It was then that Sasuke decided to step in before things got even more complicated then they already were.

"Naruto, Satsuki and I wanted to know if you wanted to get dinner together to celebrate our new status as a team and to get to know each other better. So will you come with us?" Sasuke asked politely, hoping that he'd accept their offer. They got their answer when the scroll he was reading disappeared in a puff of smoke and he stared at them with his ever blank eyes.

"You two have a point, plus I'm pretty hungry." Naruto stated and from the stunned expressions on his teammate's faces, they weren't exactly thinking on the same terms.

After that a blank faced Naruto, a wryly laughing Sasuke, and a scowling pink faced Satsuki entered a popular barbeque restaurant to get to know each other better. For the better portion of the night, there were laughs heard from the booth as the three or rather Sasuke and Satsuki exchanged stories from their past while Naruto choose to remain silent as he didn't have many fond memories that he was willing to share, though he did share a story about an incident he was involved in that included a corrupt merchant, bees, honey, ants, paint, a bikini, and cameraman.

He didn't expect the normally brooding and scowling Satsuki to burst out laughing and snorting as tears began to fall from her eyes or the reserved and polite Sasuke to laugh so much that he started crying with his sides hurting. The night ended with the three parting ways, Sasuke and Satsuki in better moods and a small smile gracing their faces.

_(Scene change - Uzumaki-Namikaze compound)_

As he walked through the front door, he was greeted by the sight of his family chatting and eating dinner happily amongst each other. Though he was used to the sight, it still caused a dull ache in his heart. As he was quietly making his way upstairs towards his room, he was spotted by his more expressive sister before he could make it up the stairs.

As Narumi was happily chatting with her family about her new team, though her brother and sister lacked the same enthusiasm she had, she spotted a familiar mop of blonde hair and her night instantly brightened up even more. Standing up on her chair, which Kushina instantly started scolding her, she called out to him.

"Naru-nii! Where have you been! Why're you home so late? Come down here and have dinner with us!" As soon as those words left her mouth, the rest of her family's heads snapped to where she was looking. But she never got a response as they heard the door to his room being closed softly. Knowing that her brother wasn't going to be joining them, Narumi sank back into her chair and slowly continued to eat, sad and hurt by his indifference.

While Narumi quieted down, Mito continued looking where she had seen her brother with longing in her eyes before she went back to her meal quieter then before. Menma continued seemingly unaffected by his brother's indifference, though inside he was wondering what his weak older brother was doing out so late. Minato and Kushina were both hurt and upset by the attitude and behavior of their oldest. Hurt that he didn't greet them when he got home and upset that he made their youngest sad by his attitude. The two exchanged sad looks before they continued with dinner, knowing that the happy mood and light was spoiled.

_(Scene change - Naruto's room)_

As Naruto entered his room, he contemplated on what would be the test for tomorrow. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of his teammates, it would definitely make things go by much more smoothly then having to assume what they were in the heat of the moment. Most likely they would have to go on a mission as a show of proficiency and their ability to operate as a unit. Starting tomorrow, he would be able to drop his facade and actually experience the world as a capable shinobi. Laying down on his bed, Naruto slowly fell into a dreamless sleep.

_(Scene change - Training ground 12)_

As the morning sun laid lazily overhead; Naruto, Satsuki, and Sasuke were sitting under the large sakura tree that laid in the center of the training ground. Satsuki had her scowl on her face, though she was sneaking side glances at the only male member of their squad. Sasuke was reading a book, and like Satsuki, he was sneaking glances at Naruto before focusing back to her book and repeating the process. Naruto was immersed in a scroll that contained information about team dynamics and how to best operate as a unit; including tactics, positions, weakness, and mistakes. Eventually, the lull of the moment was broken as their sensei made her explosive entrance, literally, as a smoke bomb exploded with her jumping out of it, her signature grin on her face.

"Well looks like you're all ready for the test I assume!" seeing the scowl, small frown, and blank look; Anko couldn't help but sweat drop slightly at the less then expressive faces of her students. "Well then, why don't we begin! The test we'll be having is the good old fashion bell test! All you have to do is take a bell from me and you pass! Simple right!" Anko said happily, pulling out 2 silver bells out of her pocket. As soon as they saw the bells, Sasuke voiced the concern that all genin who received the test had.

"Anko-sensei, but they are three of us. Why are there only two bells?" As soon as the words left her mouth, Anko revealed a devious smirk before saying something that instantly set her genin off.

"Because, the one who doesn't manage to get a bell from me is going to go back to the Academy and repeat the whole thing over again!" Anko chirped happily, relishing in the tense and stressed expressions on her genin's faces. Though, she did notice that the only male of the squad had his blank stare still in place.

"Alright then! Let the test, BEGIN!" As soon as she said that, the two female members rushed into the woods leaving her and Naruto behind. Raising an eyebrow, she gave Naruto an confused look. "Umm... You know that you're supposed to hide and plan right?" However, instead of a reply, Naruto walked back to the sakura tree and sat down. Opting to finish reading the scroll in partake in the test at the moment.

Anko could only gawk at the audacity of the kid, not only did he not answer her, which alone would've involved her using sharp things to make him answer her, he ignored the fact that he had a test going on. But she was broken out of her thoughts as a volley of shuriken forced her to jump back to avoid being hit.

Satsuki was angry, she was angry and tense, most of which came from the stupid test that her sensei had given them. Not only would one of them fail, they'd have to go through the whole Academy again and that was something she wouldn't be taking a part of. After she had hidden herself in a few meters back, she saw her idiot of a teammate just give up, without lifting a finger. She knew that he was the dead last of the Academy, but that didn't mean that he should give in without a fight. Not that she cared if he passed anything like that, but then she noticed that when he was walking back to the tree her sensei let down her guard and she took advantage of it by throwing a handful of shuriken and charging in.

After closing in the distance between, she started the bout with her sensei off with taijutsu. Anko grinned, seeing that things were finally about to get interesting. Satsuki quickly fell into the rhythm of her clan'sKoenken. The key component of the Uchiha clan's taijutsu relied heavily on using one's sharingan to predict the moves of the opponent and respond with quick yet powerful blows hence the name. However, Satsuki not having her control of the sharingan yet, couldn't utilize it to its full extent.

Quickly throwing a flurry of jabs and kicks, Satsuki quickly grew frustrated as Anko avoided each of her attacks like they were nothing. Throwing another hook towards Anko's midsection, Satsuki had her wrist grabbed pulled, knocking her off balance. Responding by twisting her body, she tried to deliver an axe kick but hit air as Anko backed away.

"Well I'll admit gaki, you're not too shabby at your taijutsu, for a genin at least." Anko's taunt seemed to have the intended effect as she saw her student's face flush red.

Growling, Satsuki rushed in again and threw another punch that was deflected, quickly spinning around she a backhand at Anko that she avoided by crouching and sweeping Satsuki off her feet. Regaining her balance, Satsuki quickly went through a series of hand seals that made Anko's eyes go wide.

Finishing the last of the seals, Satsuki glared at Anko before taking in a deep breath. **"Suiton: Teppōdama!"** Firing off a quick basketball sized ball of water that hit Anko and sent her flying back before she was replaced with a gouged out log.

"Whoa, that's one dangerous jutsu gaki! I'd be torn up for sure if I got hit by that! You need to be more caref-" Dropping out of a tree, Anko praised and scolded Satsuki but before she finished a rain of kunai forced her to perform another **Kawarimi**.

Jumping out of the brush, Sasuke had a kunai in a reverse-grip as he headed towards Satsuki who wasn't happy to see him. "What are you doing here! I don't need your help to get a bell, you saw that I almost had her right there!" Satsuki was really frustrated, being toyed with by her playful sensei didn't sit well with her at all.

"Satsuki, I know that you're frustrated! But please listen to me!" Though his sister was irritable, Sasuke knew he had to get her to calm down or else they'd all fail. Seeing the angry but now focused face of his teammate, Sasuke began his assessment of the current situation at hand.

"We know that we need to get those bells right? From what we talked about last night, we don't know any of Naruto's skills and going by his performance in the Academy they probably aren't the best. That being said, I think we'll be able to get those bells with just the two of us. I don't like leaving him behind, I really don't but we need to pass. I think will this will work, so here's the plan." Making a guilty face, Sasuke shot a glance towards their still reading teammate before relaying the plan he had devised to Satsuki.

To say that she was suprised was an understatement, Satsuki had always thought that Sasuke was someone who was all about being friends with everyone but seeing him leave Naruto out didn't sit well with Satsuki for some reason, but she needed to pass so she agreed to the plan that he created, which was crafty in her opinion.

Seeing that her two students were finished with their group huddle, Anko walked out of the brush with her grin still in place. "Are the two of you time with your little team meeting? Come'on, let's get things going again!"

Satsuki and Sasuke flashed through the hand seals for their respective jutsu, with Satsuki rushing in while Sasuke stayed back.

_"Interesting, Satsuki is coming in to apply pressure while Sasuke is most likely setting up a genjutsu to throw me off. Not shabby for a couple of rookies."_ Thought Anko as she avoided another Teppōdama from Satsuki before she heard Sasuke.

"**Kanashibari no Jutsu**!" Sasuke called out, as Anko felt a slight stiffening in her body as the genjutsu took effect. As Satsuki closed the distance once again, diving low for the bells that were tied to her waist.

As she felt the cool touch of the metal, Satsuki couldn't help but smile as the plan that Sasuke made worked. But as quick as the feeling of success came, it left as Anko grabbed her wrist and locked it behind her back, making Satsuki yelp in pain as she was forced onto the ground.

Sasuke's reaction was the same as Satsuki's, elated that his plan had worked but his hopes were crushed as their sensei had broken out of his genjutsu and subdued Satsuki without any problems.

Grinning from ear to ear, Anko couldn't help but be impressed by the show of team work of the two siblings. "That was some good team work guys! Having one of you keep the pressure on me while the other immobilizes me, that was some plan! But then again, it wasn't good enough." As she finished her statement, noticed that the last member of the squad had disappeared, she wasn't the only one as Sasuke and Satsuki had noticed as well.

"Huh, where did Blondie go? Did he go home or something?" Anko asked, seeing the confused expressions on her students, she figured that they had no idea either. But as she was about to get off Satsuki and go find him, she immediately jumped back to avoid a kick to the head that cut off a few hairs on her head.

Anko was shocked, her eyes wide, she didn't notice him until the last second. If she had been any slower there's no doubt that she'd be hurting or even unconscious.

After his kick missed, Naruto quickly grabbed Satsuki in a "princess carry", ignoring her shouts to let her go, and jumped back to where Sasuke was. Putting the now scarlet Satsuki, he turned back to Anko and rushed her.

"Fast" was the unanimous thought of the group as Naruto stopped in front of Anko and proceeded to take her on in taijutsu.

_"Damn, he hits fucking hard. And on top of that he's fast, this is getting bad my arms are starting to go numb." _Anko grunted feeling the heavy blows of her student as she blocked and parried his attacks, though she was caught off guard as a kick broke through her guard and sent her stumbling back, spittle flying out of her mouth from the heavy blow. Though his assault didn't stop there, as he charged in and slipped in behind her.

Satsuki and Sasuke could only let their mouths hang open as they saw the scene unfolding in front of them. The dead last of their class was holding his own against a jōnin, and the apprentice of Orochimaru no less.

Anko was starting to get pissed, she had underestimated this brat and he was actually starting to push her back, her! The apprentice of one of the Sannin! Catching her balance, she turned around with an kick that was blocked by Naruto. Following up, she threw a heavy punch that send her student reeling back. Not letting him get his balance, she attempted to tackle him to the ground.

As Anko inched closer so Naruto she was surprised when Naruto's mouth formed a little smile. Getting even more upset Anko decided to give him a few 'normal' punches now that he was taunting her. With little to no distance between the two of them Anko grabbed Naruto's forearm and cocked her right fist back ready to punch the little brat square in the face.

Only this wasn't the outcome. Instead Naruto dropped himself back and into a sort of sumo squat, before breaking Anko's grasp and raising his left elbow straight up over his head, causing him to nail her square in the jaw. The result was Anko being sent flying through the air and into the tree trunk.

_"Remember Naruto this techniques works best as a counter, more specifically a counter to someone running towards you." _said Niko as Naruto remembered also being sent flying by this technique. You see Naruto had to be on the receiving end of every attack to fully utilize the technique. This resulted in various injurues where Naruto was hospitalized for weeks afterwards due to experiencing a single attack.

_"How'd he? I barely saw him move...__" _thought Anko as she stood up albiet a bit shakey. Seeing as how Naruto was able to nearly take out a jonin Anko decided to give in to her sensei and report him to the Hokage as a flight risk. Getting her babalance together Anko sped past Naruto, obviously too fast fast for him to keep up.

_"So... She's still up after my _**_Adamantine: Iron_****_ Moment _**_huh.__ That's too bad..."_ Naruto thought as he saw Anlo running past him instead of at him. He liked fighting strong opponents he really did. Unfortunately Anko wasn't the kind of strong he was looking for. While Naruto specialized in taijutsu he could tell from her chakra that she was versed in many types of ninja arts.

_"What is she doing? The other two are still shocked- that fucking bitch!"_ thought Naruto as he became puzzled at what exactly Anko was trying to do. But when he pieced it together it hit him harder than anything Niko had done to him before. She was going to tell on him. To his father.

Not letting Anko get to far passed him Naruto reached back and grabbed her by the shoulder. Being ready Anko was prepared by not letting her surprise getting the best of her and responded with a reverse chop.

_"So he can keep up with this speed."_ thought Anko before she was surprised by Naruto's techniques once again. Ojpy this time she was surprised not just by Naruto but the technique itself. Naruto had somehow wrapped himself around her arm and now had her in a hold on the ground.

_"Unless she knows the **Redirection Kata** she's not getting out of this!" _thought Naruto before he tightend his hold, causing Anko's face to be pressed into his thigh. You see the technique Naruto used was called **Water Kata: Bind Of Pisces** which was used to completely nullify a fighter's chances to escape.

_"His thigh?! And he has has my right arm locked with my left one almost broken between his feet... god this is going to be gross." _thought Anko as she evaluated her current situation and it was a tough one too, only way out was to get get dirty. Turning her head slightly Anko bit down as quick as she could, although it wasn't nearly as hard as she could. That's right she bit him. Right in the groin.

Behind the two, Satsuki's face was once again scarlet looking at the scene of her sensei's mouth on her teammate. Next to her Sasuke covered his eyes, his scarlet face matching Satsuki's. But they were broken out of their embarrassed states when Naruto shouted at then.

As Anko bit him, she reversed the grip he had on her wrists, and held onto them tightly. Now that she was free she was going to call upon her snakes but was cut short by Naruto head butting her square in the face. After doing this, he turned towards his teammates and shouted at them to grab the bells. "Oh dear teammates! Could use some help here!"

Hearing their teammate actually shout at them, they two quickly rushed towards their now immobile sensei to grab the bells. After hearing this Anko tried to break free, but her student's grip on her wrists wouldn't budge. Knowing that it would be futile, Anko just sighed knowing that it was checkmate.

Minutes later a smiling Satsuki and Sasuke were standing next to a blank faced Naruto as Anko massaged her sore wrists, courtesy of the blonde in front of her. At first Anko sighed, but then she gave the three a grin as she knew that, unintentionally, they had managed to figure out the test.

"Congrats brats! You all pass!" As she congratulated them, she was asked the question at hand by Satsuki.

"But Anko-Sensei, we haven't decided on who would get the bells yet." Satsuki questioned, knowing that Naruto would probably get one since he did give them the chance to grab them. She would definitely fight for that second bell though. _"I need to have that second bell, Naruto is going to get one for sure. But it's not because I want to be on a team with him or anything, I just don't want to go through the Academy again. Yeah, that's right!"_

While Satsuki was having an internal debate as to her intentions of wanting the bells, Sasuke wasn't having a similar one. _"Naruto is most definitely getting a bell, if he's as skilled as what I saw. But how?! How is he so much stronger than I am?!" _thought Sasuke as he tried to wrap around why this dead weight was so much stronger than he was. Sure Satsuki was too but only because of her extra training but it began to upset him with just how much stronger he was- with how weak he himself had become!

However, their inner thoughts were broken by Anko who revealed the true reason behind the test. "That's true, but the real reason for this test was to test your ability to work as a team. At first, you all were going to fail. But with that little stunt at the end, I can see that you all have a future as a pretty powerful squad if we can work out the kinks! So yeah, Team 12 is official!"

As the words left her mouth, Satsuki revealed a dazzling smile while as Anko gave them all a grin. As they turned to the only male member of their team, to their complete shock and awe, he had a small smirk face. Satsuki quickly turned their heads away, cheeks flushed while Anko revealed a predatory grin.

"So Blondie! Where'd you learn those techniques from?" asked Anko as she pinned Sasuke between her and the tree. She knew he began to attack her because she WAS going to report him. She was more surprised at the angered look on his face when she attempted to then anything else.

"Does this mean you aren't going to tattle on me?"

"What's to tell? You ain't strong! You barely left a scratch on me!" said Anko as she took a jab at his pride. She felt good now but Naruto knew what he did and in time she would too. Anko believed herself to be barely scathed by his attacks but that was just her brain letting her known she was relatively okay but Naruto placed a relatively simple curse on the woman. Still though Naruto found humor in his new 'sensei's' words.

"Ha! You keep thinking that!"

"Well, well, well. Looks like things are going to be interesting after all."


	5. Chapter 4

_(Scene change - Hokage's tower)_

A few hours after the final genin exams were concluded, Minato as well as the jōnin who proctored the exams were discussing the results of the tests. "Well, how did the genin perform on their tests everyone?" Getting mixed responses from the jōnin, Minato decided to call them in order of team number to give their reports. Most of them were able to pass, but a few failed due to conflicts within the team, which caused them to fail in working as a team.

"Team 7 passes Minato-sensei, but that's to be expected as they're all siblings and know each other pretty well." Kakashi gave his report, happy that his team passed. Getting a smile and nod from Minato, he continued with the reports.

"Team 8 passes as well Minato-sama, though Kiba Inuzuka is trying to assert himself as the 'Alpha' of the team. I'll have to work on getting him out of a pack mindset." Kurenai reported, confident that her team will become a strong one in the future. Minato also was pleased, he knew how the Inuzuka clan operated on a similar level to how a pack of wolves operated, so Kiba was only doing what his clan did.

"Team 10 also passes Minato-Sama, though the new Ino-Shika-Cho seem out of balance. Shikamaru and Choji get along great, but Ino isn't trying at all to get to know them or work with them at all. Shikamaru needed to appeal to her pride in order to get her to work with them, hopefully she breaks out of it." Asuma reported, concerned about the future of his team due to the blonde. Minato could only laugh wryly, knowing how Inoichi's daughter was absolutely obsessed with his son Menma. Hopefully she'd get into the kunoichi mindset soon though.

"Team 11 has passed as well Minato-sama, however they are not exactly team material. Genji Shimada shows no aptitude for teamwork, opting to work alone. Adding onto that, he doesn't try to associate with his teammates at all, even when they were struggling to pass my test. Sakura Haruno is the exact opposite to Genji, all she is trying to do it to get him to agree to go on a date with her. While this wouldn't be normally a problem, she seems obsessed with him, to the point where Sai badmouthed him, she slugged him across the face. That brings me to Sai, he's... different. I don't know but I get the feeling that he isn't a genin, he's far to perceptive to be. After about half an hour, he got his teammates together and immediately told them about how teamwork was the key to the test. I won't do anything now, but I'll keep you updated about him." Genma reported with a sigh, knowing that he'd have his work cut out for him in the future. Minato gave a sharp nod in response, Orochimaru also commented on this team saying that they would either sink or swim, the team dynamic being somewhat similar to his own. But he did warn Minato to pay attention to Sai, as he had his suspicions about him as well.

"Team 12 also passed Hokage-sama! They were pretty good for a couple of rookies! Satsuki and Sasuke managed to bind me for a few seconds with their teamwork! But most the most surprising thing was Naruto!" At that statement, everyone's attention was focused on Anko, Minato's eyes widened by her statement and asked if she could continue, which she did.

"While it was just taijutsu, that kid is fast. And I mean FAST! I'd estimate that in terms of pure speed, he's at least low-jōnin. But that's not all, he hits pretty flippin' hard too." Lifting the sleeves of her trench coat, Anko showed the light colored bruises that spotted her arm. "These were all from him, I'm not joking when I say he actually pushed me to start trying, the first move he made was a kick to the head and I'm sure if I didn't dodge it, I'd be in the hospital with a concussion."

At the end of her report, everyone in the room quieted. The supposed dead last of the Academy managed to actually make the normally playful Anko try, that sent a shock through their systems as well as curiosity as to what else he could have been hiding. Minato knew that he had to get to the bottom of that mystery when he got back home.

"Thank you everyone! For the genin who didn't pass, please notify them that they will be put on reserve until they are placed on a team that works for them alright? That's all I have, thank all of you for your reports and meet me tomorrow for your squad's first mission. Anko, could you stay behind please? I need to talk to you." With that he dismissed the jōnin, with the exception of Anko.

"What's up Hokage-sama?" Anko asked, though she knew what he was probably going to ask about. It's not every day the son you everyone called a failure managed to singlehandedly take on a jōnin, even if they weren't going at one hundred percent.

"I'm sure you already know, but it's about Naruto. I wanted to know, since I know that Orochimaru asked you to monitor him for me, what do you think his mental state is? Do you think he's a treat to the village? Please be honest with me." Minato asked in a slightly hesitant manner, before he believed that his son wasn't a threat to the village but after hearing how he managed to go toe to toe with one of the top ninja in his village, he needed to be sure. Not just as a father but as the Hokage.

"As of right now, I'm not sure Minato-sama. From what I've gathered, it doesn't seem like he hates the village but I know he doesn't have any love for it either. Judging from his body language when he interacts with other people, he doesn't really pay attention to them since he doesn't tense up or relax around any one person. I'll keep an eye out for him though." Anko reported, knowing that it meant a great deal to him. Receiving a smile and a "thank you" in return, she was dismissed.

Leaning back in his chair, Minato could only hope that his son would be willing to talk to him about his abilities. He wasn't too hopeful, but right now it was his only choice in order to unravel one of the mysteries that shrouded Naruto.

He was about to finish up the last stack of documents before he felt a pulse of Kushina's chakra from the seal in her wedding ring. Before the pen touched the desk, he was gone in the signature flash of yellow of his Hiraishin no Jutsu.

_(Scene change - Uzumaki-Namikaze compound)_

Chaos could be the only thing that described the Uzumaki-Namikaze compound if someone were to see it. Kushina had her back pressed firmly against the door, her threatening yet scared aura on full blast causing her children to cower in fear of their now angry mother, though her oldest stood firm, the same blank expression on his face. As things were about to heat up, a flash of yellow gained the attention of everyone present in the room, a clear sign that their savior had arrived.

When Minato arrived, he noticed two things. One, his wife had an aura he hadn't felt in ages, the last time he felt this aura was when a rouge ninja called her by her moniker of the "Red Hot-Blooded Habanero", things weren't pretty afterwards. The second thing that he noticed was that his son had a small backpack and suitcase in hand. His eyes widened as he immediately understood the severity of the situation, Naruto was moving out. Though he didn't remain shocked for long as he was snapped out of his stupor by his wife.

"Minato! Naruto's moving out! I need you to help me convince him to stay here!" Kushina said frantically, tears starting to form at the corners of her eyes. Seeing his wife in such a state broke Minato's heart, steeling his resolve and facing his son Minato tried to persuade his son to stay at the compound.

"Naruto," Minato spoke softly, "Why are you moving out? Your home is here with us. If space is what you want we can arrange that, we can find somewhere on the compound for you to call your own place if you want. We still care about you regardless of what happened in the past, I don't know why we acted the way we did but we're going to make it up to you if you give us the chance Naruto. Just, please don't leave us. Don't leave your family. " Minato said with a sad tone, the tears in his eyes reflecting the sorrow in his heart.

Kushina picked up where Minato left off, taking a shaky step towards her oldest, tears freely flowing from her eyes now. "Naru-chan, you can't move out. You're only thirteen, where would you stay? How are you going to pay your rent with just a starting genin's earnings from missions? Who will make sure that you're eating right? Please Naru-chan, don't leave us, please don't." Kushina was openly weeping now, holding onto her husband for support as she continued to plead her oldest son to stay.

"I know that we've been terrible parents to you, and I know that I've been a horrible mother. We've never showed you the love that you deserved or needed but we're going to make it up to you! Just please give us another chance! Let us be your family again, please. Please let me be your Kaa-chan again."

Naruto's siblings stayed quiet throughout their parent's tearful pleas for their older brother to stay home with them. Narumi was opening crying like her mother, hiccupping a little as she cried. Mito was silently crying, furiously wiping away the tears in her eyes futilely as the more she wiped them away, the more would stream out. Menma was less expressive then his sisters, scoffing at his brother and turning his head to the side, but the slight quivering of his lips gave away the feeling deep in his heart.

As his family was crying around in front of him, Naruto continued to stay quiet. Looking at all of them with his face still blank.

The sorrowful atmosphere was amplified as the now sobbing Narumi clung onto her older brother and began pleading for him to stay as well. "Naru-nii! Please don't go! I'm sorry for being a horrible little sister and not playing with you when we were little! I'm sorry for always taking your ramen and not telling you! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! So please don't go, don't leave me behind. I want to be with you." Narumi cried into the chest of her brother as Mito also pleaded for him to stay.

"Naruto-nii, please don't go. I'm sorry for how I acted in the past, I'll do my best to be a better sister in the future, I promise! So please Niichan, please don't go. I don't want you to go." Mito begged, finally letting out a few hiccups of her own.

Menma just turned towards his older brother and locked stares with him, that blank look in his brother's eyes making him snap. "Just go you loser! Can't you see that you're nothing but a problem for us! If you were never here; Tou-san, Kaa-chan, Mito, and Narumi wouldn't be crying! So do us all a favor and just get out already! I don't need a useless brother like you or do I want one! You've never done anything that an older brother should do, so why bother wanting you to stay around! Just go! None of us need you!" After his small rant, Menma looked away, his lip quivering much more as a few tears leaked out of his eyes.

Finally, after hearing the members of his family speak from their hearts Naruto removed Narumi's arms from him and proceeded towards the door much to the horror and utter despair of his family. Near the entrance of the door, he proceeded to turn around and address his family as a whole.

Seeing as how they were finished with their speaches, he turned around and began walking out the door, as his family started to break down behind him. Stopping as he opened it, he gave his father a card before leaving.

_"A Family is supposed to love you unconditionally, and care for you without having to be asked to. If memory serves me correctly no one's done that for me. Not even Niko. From what I've experienced all these years, you shouldn't be considered my family. We should just be people who share the same blood, and that alone does not define a family. But... I can't cut my ties with you no matter how hard I try. Thank you for the things that you have done like providing me a bed to sleep on. I'll forgive you all for what you've done in the past because the past is the past and well I'm stuck here in the present." _

Thinking the last part so only he heard it, Naruto turned around and gave them a small bow then walked out of the Uzumaki-Namikaze compound, towards the edge of the of the village where his new home laid.

As the door closed with a soft thud, Kushina immediately ran into her room and slammed the door, stifled sobbing could be heard through the door. Minato quickly chased after his wife, feeling the same emotions as she did flooding in his heart. Menma scoffed, and quickly went to his room, wiping the tears from his eyes as he muttered something about his brother under his breath. Mito and Narumi were hugging each other for physical and emotional support as they continued to cry and hiccup. The two eventually going to their rooms, as more stifled whimpers could be heard from the outside.

Reaching her room, Kushina slammed and locked it behind her. Throwing herself on the bed, she continued to sob uncontrollably, the cold eyes of her son and his words cutting deeply into her heart. She heard Minato knocking on the door, begging her to let in him, to let him comfort her, but she knew it wouldn't do a thing to ease her the pain in her heart at the moment. As the afternoon slowly turned into the evening, Minato had decided to give his wife her time to grieve as he returned to finish the small amount of paperwork he had left before returning.

Waking up from her tear induced nap, Kushina groggily looked around her room. Body felt numb for some reason, her heart feeling like a piece was missing from it. Tears threatening to spill from her eyes again, her gaze found its way towards the bookshelf. Slowly making her way over, she found what she was looking for her family's photo album. Shakily reaching for it, she took it off the shelf and opened it, tears flowing once more as the first picture in the album was of her whole family. Slowly tracing her fingers over Naruto's face, she turned continued through the book, stopping gazing at the photos of her oldest when he still had his smile, a smile that had been forgotten over the years.

Reaching the 5th birthday of her children she smiled once more as she gazed lovingly at the photo of her children all smiling and hugging each other. But soon her fond memories returned to their guilty and sad state. After that photo, there were almost no more photos of Naruto in the rest of the album.

Frantically flipping through the pages, she finally found one last photo of him, one that shattered what little hope she had in her son returning to her family. The final page of the album was another family photo of them in the living room without Naruto, but looking closer in the upper corner he was there, and he was casting them the same cold glare that he did earlier.

Clutching the album close to her chest, Kushina returned to her bed and cried softly as she let herself slip into the memories of the past. That's were Minato found his wife, appearing in a flash of yellow beside her. Sadness seeping into his eyes, he got changed and lied down beside her and wrapped her in a tight embrace, whispering that everything will be okay and that they'll do their best to bring their son home. Responding to Minato's comforting words, Kushina snuggled deeper into her husband's embrace, dreaming of a smiling Naruto running towards her before giving her a love filled hug.

"_I'm home Kaa-chan!"_

_(Scene change - Naruto's apartment)_

As the evening turned to night, Naruto had finished tidying up and furnishing his apartment. While it was rather far from the village's center, it was close to a normally unused training field, which would benefit him greatly in the future. After finishing with his apartment, Naruto took a much needed shower, washing away the fatigue of the day, both physical and emotional. Changing and then laying down on his bed, he thought about what had happened over the past few hours. He had finally moved out of that house, told his family about how he really felt about them, and was now an independent shinobi of Konoha. Looking out of his window towards the night sky where the stars laid, he didn't know what to make of the future, but for now both the stars and his future seemed a little brighter then before.

_"Man. I can't wait to learn some ACTUAL jutsu!" _thought Naruto as he continued to stare into the sky. You see he knew chakra control and what not but no actual jutsu. As a matter of fact that's why he gave his father that card. On it? A written request, well more of a deal. Teach Naruto his jutsu and he'd resign as a shinobi. The two jutsu being the **Rasengan** and the **Hiraishin** respectively. He knew the chances would be slim that his father would take the offer but he doubted his father would take him up on the offer.

If he resigned he could no longer be allowed to live on his own and would be forced to move back into his parents home.

_(Time skip - A few weeks later)_

_(Scene change - Hokage's tower)_

The past few weeks have been interesting for Naruto to say the least. After moving out of his family's house, he had been seeing and feelings the disappointed glares of some of the villagers, most likely having heard that he had left his house and left his family in tears. But he never let the looks affect him, he'd been through worse then a few nasty looks.

He had bumped into his family over the past few weeks as well, Narumi latching onto him and begging him to come home every time she saw him. Mito tried to talk to him but always ended up starting a conversation that ended up with her awkwardly apologizing and leaving Menma just glared and scoffed at him then proceeded to berate him with his usual gang of friends about how weak and useless he was.

Kushina would see him shopping in the market district and barrage him with questions about how he was doing, if he was eating right, if he was staying out of trouble, and above all else, she asked if he wanted to come home, which he politely answered and declined each time. Though, he always saw Minato when he was getting a mission either with his team or individually and would be asked the exact same questions as he did from Kushina, which he politely answered and declined the offer of returning home.

Speaking of his team, things were proceeding how one would expect it to with Anko Mitarashi as a sensei. They were all being trained into the ground.

Sasuke due to his frail body, was having a hard time with the physical exercises. Anko made sure to check to see if he was alright if she thought he was in danger, but he was beginning to get physically stronger to the joy of his parents and pride of Anko. Izuna even said that he was beginning to lose his pale and weak complexion and gain a more lively and strong one which made him blush.

Satsuki fared much better, but she too was being trained into the ground by their overzealous sensei, but she could see that she was becoming stronger much to her enjoyment. Her parents even commented that she was much more skilled then she had ever been before, even her brothers noticed. Itachi smiled at her and told her that she was growing well.

Naruto didn't seem that tired when training sessions were over, on particularly hard days, the most they had seen him exhausted was a little winded breathing otherwise he was able to take on anything Anko threw at him.

As for what they were being trained on, at first it was mostly team exercises but due in part to the three actually working together cohesively they eventually were able to take on multiple types of training like tracking, scouting, support, investigation, espionage, and assault after a week of team building.

Although all the work did seem to take a mental toll on Naruto as he seemed to be made tired by the more he was forced to learn. Due to the multiple experiences Anko was able to get a better understanding of Naruto. He didn't care about mkst things but he seemed to enjoy his teammates, even goong so far as to release little smiles everynkw and then.

The past few weeks rotated between the six different topics which were beginning to make them a "Jack of all Trades" sort of team which Anko had been planning on making them, "Better to be safe then sorry" was her train of thought as she wanted her squad to be prepared for anything that could happen in the future.

One other thing Anko noticed in Naruto was his confusion doing math and trying to understand why Sasuke suddenly grew angry at him sometimes. She thought he may not be the brightest of the bumch but when he was motivated he definitely couldn't be stopped.

As for Sasuke, Anko suspected that his angry was due to inferiority to Naruto. But of course she couldn't just out right ask him.

Right now Team 12 was reporting on their 41st D-Ranked mission, which astounded every other jōnin sensei. Instead of the usual 2-5 missions a week, Anko made her team complete a minimum of at least 9 missions a week, her reason being "I don't want to be stuck doing D-Rank missions for more then a month." Which was now why she knew her genin were ready for their first C-Ranked mission.

"Congratulations for another mission well done Team 12! I assume that you want another mission correct?" Minato asked, handing the completed report to his assistant to be filed later. Satsuki's eye immediately started twitching as the thought of doing more chores made her lose her cool. Sasuke sighed, knowing that they'd be doing more manual labor in the coming hours. Naruto retained his blank look, but his eyes darkened a bit. Minato noticed the glint in Anko's eyes and immediately knew what kind of mission she was going to ask for.

"We sure are Hokage-sama! I think my cute little genin are ready for their first C-Rank mission! We've completed the minimum number of 30 D-Ranked missions, and I know that they'll be able to handle it!" As the words left Anko's mouth, Satsuki's eyes burned with the flames of determination within them. Sasuke's eyes widened in excitement as he straightened his back and put on a determined face. Naruto's face still remained blank, but there was a little excitement in his eyes. Seeing the look of determination and excitement on the faces of the genin, Minato could only sigh and relent, smiling he agreed.

"You're right Anko, your squad has gone above and beyond when completing your missions so I think you've earned this." Minato said with pride as he handed Anko a mission scroll. "It's a simple escort mission, but I think your team will be able to handle it. Alisa-san could you please let in Tazuna-san." Turning towards the door, Minato called out to the secretary to let in their client.

The door soon opened to reveal a grey-haired, bespectacled man. As soon as he reached them he turned and gave them his evaluation of them. "I thought I paid to hired a team to escort me; not two girls, a boy, and a scantily woman. I bet those three kids haven't even touched a weapon and that woman hasn't been in a real fight." Tazuna said as he took a gulp from a small bottle of sake.

Satsuki scowled as Anko and Sasuke frowned, definitely not liking how he was implying that women were weak. Naruto didn't react, but he did clench his hand slightly. But before things could escalate, Minato immediately narrowed his eyes and raised his voice at Tazuna.

"Tazuna-san, I would appreciate it if you don't insult the people that will be escorting you. The ninja before you are more then capable of protecting you, Anko is one of my top Kunoichi, being an ex-anbu captain.

At that information Tazuna, Satsuki, and Sasuke looked shocked. Tazuna because he had someone of such caliber protecting him and Sasuke and Satsuki because they didn't know that their sensei held such a prestigious position. Naruto's eyes widened slightly, but he knew she was much stronger then she was leading on.

At all the attention she was getting, Anko couldn't help but blush slightly. "Geez, if you keep staring at me like that I'm gonna blush." She said with a grin, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. Eventually the tense atmosphere before returned to a tranquil one, Anko directing her genin.

"Alright my cute little genin, we're meeting tomorrow at the main gate and head towards Land of Waves then alright! From the mission details, we're going to be escorting and guarding Tazuna-san while the Wave complete a bridge. So pack enough supplies for at least a month to be safe alright?" After her instructions, her genin nodded and they were all dismissed.

As Naruto walked out of his office, Minato quickly called out to him. Stopping near the door, Naruto turned around slightly to face him. "Naruto, please be safe out there ok?" Expecting him to be ignored, Minato was surprised and overjoyed that his son actually responded to him.

"I will be, have you thought about my offer?" Naruto said, completely getting to the point at hand.

"I have Naruto. And you know I can't risk giving out that kind of inf-" Minato started but he was cut off by an impatient Naruto. Naruto quickly remembered how he'd bait Niko into teaching him new techniques all the time when he was being "stingy" as Naruto put it.

"Forget about it then. You ain't the only one with that technique anyways." said Naruto as he began to walk out before being abruptly being stopped by Minato using his **Hiraishin** to appear in front of him. Anger already visible.

"Listen Naruto, I know I haven't been a good father to you. But As Hokage you will not disrespe-" Minato began, obviously on the ends of his patience. He was the Hokage for crists sake! He wasn't going to be strong armed into giving away his techniques! But before he could fully voice this he was moved back into his chair by one of Naruto's techniques.

Naruto had reached out and grabbed Minato's becipe before pinching it and controled Minato's flow of power to position him in a spot where Naruto could sling him back in his chair.

"Haven't done that in awhile. You know, Minato. I'm glad my father is the Hokage, he gives all his time to the job. I've never really talked to the guy because of it. Really makes letting go easier." said Naruto as he gave his father a shit-eating grin.

"Thank you so much! For putting your title before me! I believe because of that I was able to get this far!" Naruto said, genuinely appreciating the lack of interaction between him and his father. And with that Naruto walked out, leaving a stun struck Minato to make a decision that would effect the village.

_( Scene Change )_

The next day, Team 12 had all assembled at the main gate. On gate duty that day, chūnin Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane couldn't help but smile and light lightly at the excited faces of the genin waiting at the gate. Sasuke had his eyes closed with a excited smile on his face as he hummed a little tune to hisself. Satsuki was shaking a little in apprehension and excitement, her lips quivering from trying to stop herself from smiling too much. While Naruto looked at the forest through the gate with a blank expression, a tiny grin on his face. After a few minutes Tazuna arrived followed by Anko, who after seeing the looks of her genin, couldn't help but smile.

"Well looks like the three of you are excited to leave on this mission huh! Well let's get to it then!" As she gave her orders, she received a unanimous "Hai!" from her genin as they headed towards the Lands of Waves.

As Team 12 headed towards The Land If Waves, Anko noticed that Tazuna looked more tense then an escort client should be, it was almost as if he was marked for death. Then she notice a large puddle ahead and narrowed her eyes.

_"A puddle that big, even if it rained recently it wouldn't be that big. Definitely has to be genjutsu. But maybe this'll be a good test to see how they handle a situation under pressure. If things start to turn, I'll step in."_ After making the decision of letting her team handle things, Anko walked on the puddle as chains wrapped around her and ripped her to pieces, to the horror of her genin and Tazuna.

The chains retracted as two cloaked figures charged at the group, claw like gauntlets raised to strike. "One Down." One of the cloaked figures said as they approached the group.

Satsuki froze, she thought her sensei was one of the best in the village, if she got taken down what good would she be. Swallowing her fear, she dodged the cloaked figure with straight hair as they lunged at her with his gauntlet.

Sasuke, seeing Satsuki in trouble immediately threw a volley of shuriken at the person attacking her, managing to get her attention long enough for Satsuki to kick them away, as she threw her own shuriken. While Satsuki and Sasuke were occupied with one of the cloaked figures, the other one with unruly hair charged Tazuna.

Tazuna was scared, he had seen an ex-anbu captain get ripped to pieces and now he was going to see a couple of kids get killed before he died. The siblings were managing to hold off one of them but the blonde alone wasn't going to hold off the other one. As the other attack approached Tazuna couldn't only watch in shock and awe as the blonde headed kid actually stopped them.

Meizu couldn't believe was just happened, a kid stopped his attack with just his body. He slammed his gauntlet and thought it was done when he heard the sicking crunch but when he saw his gauntlet it was in pieces!

"Not a flashy technique but that's why I like it." said Naruto as he looked up and stared the man in the eye. The boy had nothing in him, dead eyes with the smallest grin.

_"Man, **Adamantine** sure is handy."_ Naruto thought before he used an offensive technique. He was rusty in the offensive part of battle but he knew it'd hit, unlike that time with his 'sensei'.

Taking small steps back the masked man was unprepared when Naruto kicked him that he was sent flying with a circular motion.

"**Rashaka's Sole**."

As the attack hit the covered man, his flesh and muscles were quickly contorted in a twist like motion. Due to the amount of force dealt by Naruto the man was sent back quite a distance but not before Naruto was able to discover something interesting.

_"Ahhh, so that's it? I expected it to be more complicated... How many more useful techniques can you muster?" _Naruto thought as he saw that the rotation caused by the Rashaka's Sole was the key to his father's technique. He was surprised that such a technique was so simple yet so effective.

Gōzu couldn't believe his eyes when he saw his older brother hit the ground, holding his side. He didn't expect the kid to be skilled enough to handle his brother, let alone beat him. But his distraction cost him as a kick connected to his stomach, making him gasp for air. But he found himself unable to take a breath, as if there was no air for him to breathe, panicking and disoriented he slowly lost conciseness as his world turned black.

As Naruto finished dealing with his opponent, Sasuke had finished the signs to his jutsu as Satsuki managed to land a kick to Gōzu's midsection. Staring right at Gōzu, Sasuke whispered "**Botsuraku Gozō no Jutsu**". Seeing his opponent's look of shock as they tried to take a breath, Sasuke knew that it had worked. As Satsuki was about to strike again, she saw her opponent trying to take a breath and knew that it was Sasuke's jutsu at work. Sighing, the two were about to relax before the remembered the other one. Snapping their heads back towards their teammate, their jaws dropped as they saw him tying the other assailant up, the same blank expression on his face.

To say Anko was shocked would be an understatement, not only had her team manage to hold off enemy ninja, they managed to hold their own against 2 chūnin ranked opponents. While we was extremely impressed with Satsuki and Sasuke's incredible teamwork she was at a loss for words when she saw how efficiently and brutally Naruto took down his opponent.

_"That kick had to have broken a rib or two and that blow spun the guy, kind of like Hokage-dono's signature** Rasengan.** While Satsuki and Sasuke had a little trouble dealing with Gozō that was expected, they're still genin. But Naruto dismantled Meizu like he was nothing. Just how strong is this kid?"_ Breaking out of her thoughts, Anko dropped down to the shock of everyone but Naruto, which she took note of.

"That was amazing! Looks like my cute little genin really can handle themselves in the big, bad world!" Anko said grinning, explaining how she used a Substitution to substitute herself with a long in order to assess how they performed against live opponents, and that they exceed her expectations.

Hearing praises from their sensei, Sasuke and Satsuki revealed bashful faces and smiles, as they couldn't say anything in response to Anko's praises. Naruto's blank look remained. But the peaceful moment was broken when Anko turned to Tazuna, and addressed the situation.

"Look here Tazuna-san, I know that this has definitely escalated from a C-Rank escort mission. You mind telling me why we were attacked by the 'Demon Brothers' when we're just supposed to be escorting you." Anko said, a scary and angry glint in her eyes at the audacity of the man to put her genin in danger.

Tazuna almost immediately went down to his knees and begged them to help him. Telling them about the situation with Nami no Kuni about how a crime lord, Gato, has taken over and practically ruled the small village with an iron fist. That a C-Rank mission was the most that the could afford with the allotted funds from the few villagers who had extra to spare. As he finished he pleaded with them again to help him, that they would repay them in the future when the Wave was back on its feet.

Anko heard the sob story and couldn't help but feel pity towards the man and his village. According to code, she was to abandon the mission and report Tazuna to Minato and have his name blacklisted as requesting a false mission. Deciding that she couldn't make this decision alone, and that it was her genin's first time outside of the village she asked them.

"Well, you all heard his story. What do you think we should do? Remember, it's okay to not want to continue, it's a dangerous mission." Anko asked, her teasing voice unusually gentle. She didn't get a answer from Sasuke or Satsuki, the two siblings looking at their feet. She didn't blame them, they had heard that Gato kidnapped women and girls and forced them into the "entertainment" business. But she received a response from the least vocal of the team, but the response wasn't one she or anyone else was expecting from him.

"Anko-sensei. I think it'd be a wise choice to continue on this mission. If we were to escort Tazuna-san to the Land Of Waves and have him finish the bridge... It'd make this Gato guy try and stop us right? Im sure he can bring some strong people our way." Naruto started out quietly but near the end he raised his voice as his eyes burned with so much excitement that they were a little shaken by it. But as quickly as it came, it left, his blank face returning, though they could tell how he felt from the small smile now on his face.

While she was shaken at him at first, Satsuki steadied her resolved and agreed with her teammate. Sasuke followed suit, knowing that it'll be dangerous and that he could become a liability given his condition, but steeled his resolve. Anko, seeing the now determined faces of her genin could only smile at them for wanting to help Tazuna, though she was a little scared of Naruto's proclamation, he wasn't actually going through with this for his own gain was he?

The team coming to an agreement before him to help him and his people, Tazuna could only bow his head lower and mutter "Thank you," over and over again, tears streaming down his face. After their vote, the group continued on their way towards The Land Of Waves; finally reaching a checkpoint at a friend of Tazuna who lent them a boat. After the boat ride, they proceeded on their way, only an about an hour and a half from Tazuna's homeland.

As they continued down the worn road, Anko began to feel as though someone was following them, but she couldn't point it out. On guard but figuring it was because she was in unknown territory, she ignored it. But soon the lull of the moment was broken when Naruto threw a rock at a bush, a small white rabbit scurrying out of it.

"What are you doing you idiot? You almost gave me a heart attack!" Satsuki shouted at her teammate, patting herself over the chest. Her adrenaline returning for another encounter like earlier before.

"Naruto, please be more careful! You really scared me there, I thought it was another enemy!" Even the polite Sasuke scolded him, imitating the action of his female teammate by patting his chest in relief.

But the moment was immediately tense as Anko shout at them to get down. "GET DOWN!" Forcing Tazuna onto the ground as her genin quickly followed her order, a large blade soared overhead and embedded itself in the trunk of a tree behind them.

"Well, well, well. So you were able to dodge my Executioner's Blade eh? Guess you aren't as bad as you look." A mocking voice said as they turned around to see a figure standing on the handle of the blade before jumping down and taking it out of its resting place and putting it on his shoulder.

Anko immediately narrowed her eyes, her body tense, ready to take action. "Zabuza Momochi, the 'Demon of the Hidden Mist'. What are you doing here?" Anko questioned, hoping that her wasn't here for Tazuna. But her fears were immediately answered as he let out a mocking laugh.

"Well, I didn't expect to find the 'Snake Mistress of Konoha' here. What do you think I'm here for? I'm here for the old man behind you, so why don't you do you and your little brats a favor and just hand him over. I won't kill you if you do." The man now known as Zabuza said.

"Sorry, but I can't do that. Mission is to protect him after all." Anko said, whipping out a kunai in preparation of the impending conflict. As Zabuza chuckled again.

"Mission? You expect me to believe a couple of brats like that are capable of taking on a mission like this already? I doubt they're even ready for D-Ranked mission let alone this!" He taunted, which worked as Satsuki growled, Sasuke glared, and Naruto actually narrowed his eyes at him. Anko didn't take too kindly to someone other then herself taunting her genin.

"But fine, we'll do this the hard and fun way." Zabuza said, raising his arms in seal before calling out a jutsu that made Anko drop a bead of sweat down the side of her face. **"Suiton: Kirigakure no Jutsu,"** as a thick mist began to roll in to the shock of the genin. As the mist rolled in, the three began to feel a thickness in the air, as if it was getting much harder to breathe.

Satsuki was trembling, the kunai she had taken out was shaking in her hand. Her whole being screamed at her to run away, to get somewhere safe, but she couldn't move. All she could do was stand there shaking like a leaf in the wind. _"Wha-what is this? The air is so thick, I can't even breathe. It's like I'm in a pool of water right now. I'm scared. I'm really scared. Am I going to die?"_ Satsuki thought as she frantically looked within her field of view, unable to even turn her head due to the overwhelming killing intent.

Sasuke was on his knees, his already frail body unable to take the killing intent directed at him. The kunai that he originally held in one hand was now held in both, shaking just like his body. He wasn't prepared for this, he expected another quick fight but not this. He didn't want to be here, he wanted to take everyone and run but he couldn't even move a finger in this situation. _"We need to get out of here! We're not going to make it if we fight this man, I don't even think Anko-sensei can beat him in this mist! I want to get everyone and run but I can't. I'm scared. I'm really scared. I'm going to die aren't I?"_ Sasuke thought as he stared into the mist before him, unable to vocalize any of his thoughts or actions from the killing intent Zabuza was emitting.

While his two teammates were having a hard time due to the killing intent directed at them, Naruto was faring much better, having been exposed to far worse from Niko. Though that didn't shake all his apprehension off as the slight shaking of his hand was an indicator that he was excited. "_So this is what Niko meant when he said that it was a technique used by practically every ninja out there. I need to be careful, one wrong move and I'm dead."_ Naruto was broken out of his thoughts when Anko stood firm before them.

"Satsuki, Sasuke, Naruto! Don't panic, I don't let my comrades die, espeically when they're people I care about!" Anko shouted, trying to lift the effects of the killing intent from her genin, and it worked as they all visibly stopped shaking violently. Satsuki tightening her grip on her kunai. Sasuke shakily standing up before getting into a stance with his kunai. Naruto relaxed and slip into a stance, his eyes now hard and sharp. After her speech, Zabuza laughed again before appearing in the middle of Naruto, Satsuki, Sasuke, and Tazuna. To their shock and horror.

"Nice speech, too bad you're all dead." He said as he brought the Executioner's Blade around to slash through the four, but as he did Anko appeared next to him and stabbed him through in the midsection to his shock.

"Don't you EVER try to lay your dirty hands on my genin." Anko glared at him with unbridled fury in her eyes. But to their surprise, he turned into a puddle of water.

"ANKO-SENSEI! BEHIND YOU!" Sasuke screamed, seeing another Zabuza appear behind her. To their horror, Anko was cut down by Zabuza. But to his shock, the Anko he cut turned to mud as it hit the ground. As he felt cold steel against his neck.

"You're finished." Anko said in a cold voice, her eyes narrowed in anger. But to her surprise and the surprise of everyone else, she started to chuckle lightly.

"You prepared an **Earth Style: Clone** when I made the mist didn't you? That's pretty clever I'll give you that. But I'm finished? You don't understand who you're facing do you?" After saying that, Zabuza dispersed into another puddle of water and reappeared behind her, Executioner's Blade in swing to cleave her in half.

Ducking, Anko managed to evade being cut in half but using his momentum Zabuza spun around and kicked her in the side sending her to the large lake that laid next to them.

"You just sealed the death of you, the old man, and your little wannabe ninjas." Zabuza said, rushing to the area where Anko had landed .

"ANKO-SENSEI!" Satsuki shouted, her eyes wide in shock at what just happened. Her sensei had just been kicked into a lake, from what she had seen he used suiton which meant he had the advantage in the water.

"SENSEI!" Sasuke screamed, seeing his sensei get kicked into a lake. If she was in the lake then that meant that Zabuza had the advantage if he knew more suiton jutsu, which from his sensei's battle, he probably did.

Naruto's eyes widened before they narrowed again._ "This isn't good at all. That chick's got's zero chance now that he's got her in that lake."_ Expression similar thoughts as his teammates at the situation now at hand.

"Pwah, what hell? Why the fuck is this water so damn heavy?" Anko said, breaking the surface of the lake only to see Zabuza's shadow next to her, turning around her eyes widened as she saw him finish a series of hand seals.

"You were stupid to let me get you into the lake, but you made a dumber mistake by trying to get out of it. **Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu**!" Zabuza shouted as he encased Anko in a sphere of water. "_Can't move can you? That waters denser due to my charka flowing through it, you're not getting out of there."_

_"Shit! He's a lot stronger then I thought, I should've known better then to have fucking underestimated him!"_ Anko angrily thought, her overconfidence was going to cost her own life, the life of Tazuna, but worst of all it was going to cost her the lives of her genin.

Turning towards stunned genin, Zabuza could only stare mockingly at them before he created another water clone using the **Water Clone Jutsu** from earlier. "Look at you all shaking and scared now that you lost your sensei. Where's that bravado from earlier, especially you Blondie, I didn't notice you shaking before, absolutely pathetic. A real ninja is one who can survive even in the face of death, and let me tell you a little secret, I. Have." Putting emphasis on the last two words, Zabuza proceeded to tell him of his exam to become a shinobi.

"In the Bloody Mist, the genin selection exam involved you killing the classmates and friends that you grew up, ate, and played with. It was a test that truly showed who was the strongest. Now imagine a kid who wasn't even part of that exam showing up and killing over one hundred of those weaklings. Those were good times." At his story, Satsuki and Sasuke turned a sickly green at the thought of that massacre. As he finished, the clone he created vanished and reappeared in front of Naruto to everyone's shock and tried to kick him but was interrupted by Naruto's counter.

As Zabuza's leg rose to Naruto's shoulder Naruto used another one of his offensive techniques. **_"Redirection Kata: Weeping Willow!"_**. Naruto thought before Naruto offset Zabuza's balance, he offset it to place him in just the right spot to deal the most amount of damage. Not one to miss his chance Naruto follwed up with another one of Niko's techniques.

**_"Adamantine Kata: Ironbreaker!"_**. Thought Naruto as he planted his right fist in Zabuza's sword, causing massive gusts if winds to be sent flying off around the two. Not only was Zabuza sent reeling from the impact but the mist surrounding the group was completely dispersed.

"Gehee... Sounds like fun!" shouted Naruto, much to the dismay of his teammates. Following up with a flurry of blows that caused Zabuza to guard with his sword. Only it wasn't enough to stop Zabuza as he quickly stopped Naruto by grabbing Naruto's throat and throwing him back to the group.

"Kids like you are way in over your heads, you know what you are." His clone started as he walked towards the group. "Your just a bunch of immature, weak, scared, little brats."

"RUN! YOU GUYS CAN'T WIN, JUST TAKE TAZUNA-SAN RUN AND SAVE YOURSELVES! HE CAN'T MOVE WHILE HE'S HOLDING ME HERE AND HIS CLONES CAN'T MOVE TOO FAR FROM THE ORIGINAL!" Anko screamed hysterically as she was about to witness the deaths of her genin right before her eyes.

As the clone approached slowly, Satsuki, Sasuke, and Tazuna had their lives flash before their eyes as they closed them. Tazuna remembered his family and the wave, their smiles and hopes all placed on him to complete the bridge.

Satsuki remembered her family, her mother and father's smiles, her other brother's forehead pokes, and her twin's smirk. Then she saw all the times she had with her team, the missions, the training, but she also saw a head of blonde hair and a handsome smile directed towards her instead of his usual blank face.

Sasuke remembered his mother and father smiling at him. The times he spent with his Older Brother and training with him. Then he saw his team, with all the missions and training sessions that they had together, but then he saw a familiar head of raven hair and red eyes.

As they began to accept the fact that they were going to die, a thud and splash could be heard which made them snap their eyes open. Standing in front of them wasn't a blank faced Naruto, but a Naruto with his eyes narrowed in anger with a scowl on his face.

"Hehehe I fucking knew it! If I came here, If I became a ninja! I'd definitely be able to fight the strong!" He said as his scowl slowly turned into a smirk. As Zabuza's swing came closer to him Naruto used his redirection kata to force Zabuza to lose his grip on his giant sword. In doing so Naruto took it for himself before swing it so hard hard that he caved in the clone's head.

"Ha! This is what curbing the end feels like!!" shouted Naruto as he turned his head slightly so that he faced Zabuza, he slowly opened his eyes. His navy blue eyes were now electric blue, his round pupil was now much smaller in shape. His blank face slowly turned into a predatory smile as he uttered a few words that made Zabuza sweat slightly.

"I'm gonna enjoy this! Don't you go and die on me!"


	6. Chapter 5

**Here peeps just a little note here! It's come to my attention that I've messed up here and there and some of you have noticed and pointed them out to me which im really thankful for! But as a little notice updates this month may be a bit oate but that's just bcz holidays, I'll pick ip the pace a little afterwards so no worries.**

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Silence dominated the battlefield as Naruto stood defiantly against a stunned Zabuza. Not only had he destroyed his **Water Clone** without trouble, but after that cloud of smoke dispersed, he was different then before. Before he was a blank faced, navy eyed brat. But now he had electric blue eyes, an excuted energy that matched his killing intent, and a predatory smile on his face; though he was still a brat. Though, that wasn't what caused Zabuza to break a sweat, what did was the aura of sheer confidence and dominance that he now emitted.

Anko was in complete shock at the changes in her student, the blank faced boy she had gotten fond of had now a completely different personality. His presence reminded her of someone but she couldn't think of who it was, but she did know one thing. For some reason, she had strange feeling of confidence in him and knew that he'd be able to get them out of this mess.

Tazuna was in awe of the boy that stood in front of him, from what he had seen before with the 'Demon Brothers' he was dependable, being able to deal with one of them easily. But now, he had the sneaking suspicion that he would even be able to take on Zabuza and actually win as crazy as it seemed. He could only hope that his suspicions were true as if they weren't, they'd be as good as dead.

Satsuki had her jaw gaping at the scene. The dead last of the Academy, her stupid teammate, and the same guy who she had been working with for the past month had completely changed the personality that she had grown used to seeing. Standing before her wasn't a blank faced blonde, but a blonde who gave off a powerful aura. She didn't know why, but she actually believed that he could beat Zabuza.

Sasuke couldn't believe his eyes, what had happened to his blonde teammate? He was always so calm and collected, but now it seemed like he was ready to run wild. He had never felt such confidence from anyone in his life, and that made him feel safe and secure. He knew that deep in his heart, Naruto would beat Zabuza and save them all from the situation that they found themselves in. And it infuriated him to no end! To be considered one of the weak was an insult.

However, the standoff was broken when Zabuza knew that this was no time to be thinking about 'What if's' of the brat, quickly making more clones, he sent them to get rid of the him before he could do anything else.

Seeing Zabuza create more clones and send them to attack, Naruto's smile quickly grew as he became even more thrilled as he a rushed in to intercept them before they reached shore. To everyone's complete shock, he started running across the water similar to Zabuza's clones, reaching the first one before they reached land.

The clone responded with a downward slash, which Naruto avoided, taking a step to the right and spinning, using the momentum gained to slash through the cloned Executioner's Blade and its wielder with ease using one of the most lethal techniques in his arsenal. Not easing up, he rushed through the remaining clones, chopping and dodging his way through them before he finally finished dealing with them, turning his attention towards the original and Anko.

Zabuza wasn't just surprised, he was outright stunned. A boy at least half his age was using nothing but martial arts with such grace and skill, it just wasn't possible. But at the same time, a feeling that he thought had died long ago began to surface after almost a decade, for the first time in a number of years, Zabuza actually felt excited at the prospect of fighting another person. He was broken out of his thoughts when Naruto started to run towards him, his sword trailing behind in his right hand.

"Tsk, looks like I don't have a choice." Zabuza whispered, removing his hand from his**Water Prison Jutsu**, he grabbed The Executioner's Blade and charged Naruto. Leaving Anko, to drop back into the water and take large gulps of precious air.

Seeing Zabuza release the chick, Naruto mentally breathed a sigh of relief, that was one problem dealt with and the other was headed right towards him. Tightening his fists, he swung and met Zabuza's Executioner's Blade head on, a deafening clang and shower of sparks flying as the ninja met each other.

Grunting as he was being easily overpowered by the larger man, Naruto shifted himself slightly and managed to throw the Executioner's Blade slightly off balance, side stepping Naruto spun around and slashed horizontally in an attempt to at least break Zabuza's guard a little bit.

Feeling his balance shift slightly due to the brat angling himself slightly, saw him spin around like he did earlier probably trying to break through the Executioner's Blade like with the clone. Smirking under his bandages, he had to admit that if he was using a regular sword, that would've worked, but unfortunately for the brat, he had The Executioner's Blade. Tightening his grip on his sword and bracing himself for the attack, Zabuza took the full brunt of Naruto's blows, his arms buckled a little bit from the power of it, but it didn't even come close to the power of Kisame's monstrous swings.

Naruto's eyes went wide, he had at least expected Zabuza to take a step back or something, but he didn't expect him to shrug off his hits like it was nothing. His momentary distraction was exploited as Zabuza kicked him in the gut, making him stumble back a few feet before his rolled to the side to avoid the overhead swing from Zabuza.

Righting himself, Naruto was about to rush towards Zabuza again when he noticed his 'sensei' running towards them, her hands a blur as she prepared a jutsu. Satsuki and Sasuke were also preparing their own jutsu as they ran towards the shoreline of the lake and took aim. Zabuza noticed as well, if the tensing of his body and darkening of his eyes were any indication.

"Tsk. Figured he wouldn't be fighting fair. I almost forgot that we're not just fighters. We're also shinobi and we don't fight fair." Just when he was starting to get into this duel, he remembered that they weren't just swordsmen but were ninja as well. One on one and honor didn't exist in this world, figured the brat was just stalling for time for his team to get the jump on him. But he didn't expect what happened next and neither did anyone else.

"STAY THE HELL OUT IF THIS!!" Naruto shouted at his team, making them flinch and stop in the midst of their seals.

"What do you mean stop!? You're seriously not expecting me to just wait and do nothing while he butchers you! We've got the advantage now, and I'm not going to let it go to waste!" Anko shouted back. The hell was he thinking, they had the advantage now that it was two on one, especially now that she wasn't going to underestimate him anymore.

"Yeah you idiot! You think you can take on someone like him on your own!? Are you insane!?" Satsuki screamed at him, her eyes burning in anger. "We're not going to let you get killed just because you think you're going to win!"

"Naruto, we're a team! We fight together, that why we're not going to just sit back and watch!" Sasuke yelled at him, his usually calm face now slightly angry and determined.

As Anko appeared behind Naruto she was caught by surprise when Naruto's foot met her face, sending her flying back to her other students. _"Wh-what?! It's the same technique from earlier!"_ thought Anko as she recognized it was the same move he used on one of the demon brothers.

Landing in front of her other two students Anko was quicjly bought up to her feet but she couldn't even attempt to get close to the two before Naruto caused the two to be secluded.

As Naruto turned his attention back to Zabuza he took a stance that resembled a samurai ready to attack with their sword. Only Naruto's hands were clamped together before he released them slightly causing a high pitch ring to sweep the area and raise the water around the two, causing a wall around them to be seperate from the others.

Again, this brat had him stunned. Was he suicidal, or just plain insane? A duel with him? One of the 'Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist'? Though, he had to admit, he gained a very tiny grain of respect for the brat. Not many still upheld the honor that came with a duel anymore, himself included. But he had to admit, he actually kind of wanted to see what the brat was made of.

If he knew about the honor and code of a duel, what were his skills like? From what he's seen, he wasn't too green. Finally, he did something that unnerved everyone there, he laughed. It wasn't the condescending or dark laugh from earlier, but an actual humor filled one.

"Are you insane or just plain suicidal brat? You're openly challenging one of the strongest 'Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist'! Even with your sensei, you two wouldn't even land a scratch me!" Zabuza barked out, his eyes never leaving the blonde in front of him, as he also tightened his grip on The Executioner's Blade. What came next out of Naruto's mouth was something that he just couldn't forgive.

"Talk is Cheap... _Old man_." Naruto snidely said, sneering at Zabuza as tick marks began to pop up on his head.

"Oh, you're fucking dead brat... and for the record I'M NOT THAT OLD! I'M ONLY 26!" Zabuza yelled, rage boiling in his eyes as he charged at Naruto.

Naruto winced as his plan to anger Zabuza worked probably too well, bringing his hands up to block the blow from Zabuza as number of blows rained down on him, his arms buckled under the sheer power of Zabuza's swing as he made a mental note to himself.

"Note to self: Try not to anger a former master swordsman during a duel by commenting on their age."

They continued clashing against each other, neither letting up. As he saw a diagonal slash from Zabuza, Naruto misjudged the timing of his dodge, Zabuza landing a clean cut on his shoulder. The favor was returned when they collided once more, Naruto angling and pushing his hands off against The Executioner's Blade, using his legs Naruto was able to kick Zabuza's face, managing to land a cut on Zabuza's cheek.

Eventually, Naruto started to slow down, the heavy blows from Zabuza making his arms go more and more numb with each swing. Swinging his sword in overhead in a wide arc, Zabuza's Executioner's Blade met Naruto's shoulder with a loud clang and explosion of winds. Causing Naruto to be sent flying to the waterfall like wall.

Smirking a bit, Zabuza changed his stance as Naruto staggered to his feet, setting up an unstable guard with his fusts. Setting his feet diagonally shoulder length apart, his right foot outstretched and Executioner's Blade held in a reverse grip perpendicular to his body behind him, Zabuza performed a move he hasn't used since his time as a part of Kiri's military force.

**"Executioner**: **Cold Water Blade**!"

Naruto barely saw him move as Zabuza appeared behind him, sending him flying from the monstrous power of his attack. Hitting the water and skipping a few feet, he managed to regain his balance and right himself in the air, his eyes widened as he saw the after effect of Zabuza's attack; a scar in the water ran from where Zabuza stood to where he was before his attack, at least 7-9ft long, a foot wide and 2ft deep.

"Not bad brat, you're actually still alive. I must be getting rusty if you lived through that, nobodies seen that and lived to admire it like you're doing right now." Zabuza praised slightly, though he was discontent with the lack of power in his attack, he was rusty and he didn't like that.

Naruto stood up shakily, his stamina beginning to run out. He was covered in cuts, the largest one on being on the back of his right shoulder from misreading the timing of one of his dodges. Compared to him, Zabuza had only superficial cuts, his most major one being on a small cut on his check from getting knocked off balance earlier.

"You should've let your teammates help you out. Now you're gonna die..." said Zabuza as he inched closer to Naruto. Unfortunately for Zabuza he was unprepared for what cane next from his trash talking.

"Team? Gehee... besides me and the woman there's little to nothin' there! Could you really call just two people a team?!" shouted Naruto as he rushed in again with reinvigorated energy. Only now Naruto's entire body seemed to be vibrating and letting off huge amounts of steam. With each blow Zabuza began to realize what the outcome was going to be.

"Looks like you're intending on finishing this huh? Fine brat, I'll humor you." He said, attempting to get into the same stance as before. Only he wasn't wasn't allowed as Naruto punched him so hard that Zabuza fell to his side.

Trying to get up Zabuza was getting mounted by a steaming Naruto. Quite literally too, the heat eminating from Naruto began to burn Zabuza's skin on contact. Speaking of contact Naruto had began to pound Zabuza's face with his fist.

_"His heat... It's... just like... Mei's." _thought Naruto as he remembered that miserable woman. She'd burn him day in and day out, he'd never thought he'd feel it again but boy was he wrong.

The heavy blows from Naruto caused the water's surface to become unstable and the waterfall to cease as well.

"Naruto! Stop!" shouted Anko as she was genuinely afraid of the completely beastly state of her genin. He had an sadistic grin on his face while the steam caused his skin to turn red, the white in his eyes to turn black, even his hair was a little drenched as his blood stuck to it.

Stopping his onslaught Naruto was surprised to see the afraid looks on his team's faces. With his eyes going back to normal, he was about to stop but he was angered once again by Zabuza's hand reaching up and gripping Naruto's face. Not even bothering to look at him Naruto slammed Zabuza into the water.

_"Why... Did I stop?" _thought Naruto as he let the water cool him off. He didn't know why he stopped his attack. He probably would've won if he just kept going.

Swimming back to the surface Naruto was met was a bleeding Zabuza looking down on him. The wounds caused by Naruto was already gushing large amounts of blood.

Silence reigned over the lake, as no one dared to take a breath during the tense moment. Finally, as if they were waiting for it, a leaf dropped onto the lake, and the two moved towards each other but the only outcome possible was Zabuza dealing damage. And damge he did, Zabuza reached down with his right hand and completely crushed Naruto's throat before he attempted to poke out his eyes with his left hands.

Thinking fast Naruto was able to flip himself into an arm hold and quickly snapped Zabuza's right arm before letting go and rolling away. Naruto didn't think he could win in his current situation, his crished throat dampened his already short air supply and he wasn't sure he could stand back up.

Zabuza stood firm, before he coughed up some blood, staining the bandages over his mouth. Smirking to himself, he heaved his Executioner's Blade onto his shoulder with his left hand before he started to sway. Though, before he could fall, a masked figure in a kimono appeared next to him and leaned him onto their shoulder. Without waiting for a response from any of them, he vanished in a swirl of mist.

Walking over to her very injured student Anko was surprised to see him tear up at the sight of her. She wasn't sure why but when she tried to grab him he stopped her before standing up and smiling.

"What? You want to fight too?" asked Naruto as he bared his fangs as his 'sensei'. He didn't know why she was here but he figured she'd wanted to fight him because of when he hit her with **Rakshaka's Sole** earlier.

_Slap!_

This small singular slap did little to nothing to damage hom, but he stopped regardless of what he felt. And he still couldn't stop this feeling of his.

"That's enough! I'm your sensei and you are my student! You think I don't know what your techniques do to your body? You will listen Naruto! You are to not use those techniques again! Do you understand?!" said Anko as she gave Naruto a slap across his face. It wasn't an angered filled one, nor an power filled one. No, it was something else.

Naruto had won, kinda. But she didn't congratulate him, no, she told to stop hurting himself. At first Naruto didn't understand what she meant but as he let his head drop he was able to see his reflection in the water. His body had cuts all over with the deepest being his left shoulder, his mouth had blood spewing out of it, his eyes bloodshot. But most of all, his hands. After dodging that gigantic sword he began blocking and it was because of that his hands were brutally cut up and his fingers were all nearly broken to his own recklessness.

"Naruto, I know you don't trust us and that's fine! But I will not sit back and have you destroy your self! You are one of my precious genin... I don't ever want to see you guys die." Anko said as she gave Naruto a hug, burying his head into her bust. It wasn't one of her teasing hugs either, it was... motherly.

_"Thank you... Sensei"_

Was all Naruto said before he collapsed in his new sensei's arms. Finally accepting her because well, she accepted him. He felt safe around her now and he knew she probably wouldn't be feel the same, but he'd take what he could get.

After Anko brought Naruto back to the shore of the lake, she was met with a scared Sasuke and Satsuki who asked if he was alright. To everyone's relief, the cut he received was wasn't life threatening, the deepest part being near his shoulder was halfway towards cutting the bone, which Anko took care of quickly.

_(Scene change - Unknown place)_

The masked figure that had Zabuza held close gently put him down as they started tending to his injuries. After a few seconds, Zabuza snapped his eyes open, locking his gaze on the person treating him.

"Ugh... Haku, that you?" He asked, slightly disorientated from the blood loss.

"Yes Zabuza-sama, it's me. I'm sorry that I let you get this injured. I should've stopped that shinobi when I had the chance." Haku solemnly said in a feminine tone, removing the mask on their face to reveal a beautiful yet sad face. She expected to get yelled at for failing to protect him, but she got yelled at for a completely different reason.

"Don't sweat it. That kid... He wanted to fight me with honor. What a load of crap... He fought like a complete animal." He said in a stern tone, as he started checking over his injuries, being actually surprised at the damage that he sustained.

"Damn, that brat wasn't half bad. If I had been a little slower I would've lost my arm. Guess he wasn't bluffing when he said I'd better not die." He was broken out of his assessment by Haku who reminded him to be careful.

"Zabuza-sama, please don't strain yourself. Next time, I'll take care of that boy. You focus on recovering your strength, Gato said that in the case that we failed to eliminate the target, we'll gather and eliminate them within the coming week or two." Haku said, but once again was surprised by her master's words.

"You don't get it do you Haku, that brat is mine and mine alone. You take care of his sensei and those other brats, but me and him have a duel to finish next time. We'll give them until the day that sleazeball decides to attack to recover." After hearing her master's orders, Haku nodded and returned to tending his wounds as Zabuza thought back to duel.

"That kid... He's good, he's really good. The only reason it turned out like this was because he's inexperienced and I'm rusty. Heh, he's gonna be a monster in the future..."

_(Time skip - 2 hours later)_

_(Scene Change - The Land Of Waves)_

After their brush with death, the group finally made it to Tazuna's house. As they approached the house, a relatively young woman with dark hair stepped out of the house and as soon as she turned her head and saw the group, namely Tazuna, she started to tear up before running and giving the man a hug.

"Father! You're alright! I was so worried, you said it would only take 2 days to come back! Why did it take you 3! Are you hurt anywhere?" The woman asked, frantically checking if Tazuna was injured anywhere. She received a chuckle in return as he hugged his daughter back.

"I'm fine, I'm fine Tsunami! I was attacked, but these brave ninja protected me." Tazuna reassured his daughter, as she turned and introduced herself and thanked them for protecting her father.

"I'm Tsunami, thank you so much for protecting my father. Without him, the last hope for the Wave would be lost." Tsunami said solemnly, knowing that his daughter would venture into more depressing memories, Tazuna opted to break the now saddened mood.

"Now Tsunami, just don't stand there! We have guests to our home, let's try and make them feel welcomed ok!" Tazuna said with a bright smile on his face that was returned by his daughter.

"You're right father, everyone please do come right in. It's small, but it is home. We should have enough room for all of you to stay, so please don't be shy." Tsunami said with a smile as she led the group into the house.

As they entered, they spotted a child with spiky black hair and eyes. Seeing them enter, the child gave them a slightly angry look before Tsunami called out to him.

"Inari, say hello to these people. They are ninja who protected Grandpa." Tsunami said with a gently and motherly tone, as she smiled at her son. Though Inari ignored them as he headed up to his room.

Seeing the reaction of the kid raised alarms in Anko's head, a kid his age shouldn't be looking like that, something big must've happened with him. Quickly glancing around, she also noted that there weren't many pictures of Tsunami with someone who looked like her husband. Mentally, she made a note to herself about that.

"Well, looks like the situation is more drastic then we thought. Kid must've had his dad either leave them or got killed by Gato's men." She assessed, as Tsunami apologized for her son's behavior, getting an understanding nod from the Konoha ninja, seeing as the situation in Nami no Kuni must've been harsh.

_(Time skip - 1 hour later)_

After they had all settled into Tsunami, Tazuna, and Inari's home; Team 12 had one thing on their minds, that being Naruto. After Anko had finished treating him and Tsunami directed her as to where he was going to be sleeping, she had called Sasuke and Satsuki together for a team meeting.

"Anko-sensei... Just, just what is Naruto?" Sasuke asked timidly, after being shouted at by his teammate to not interfere with the battle he had with Zabuza and seeing him act like a wild animal, hundreds of questions swam through his mind. Who really was their blonde teammate? The blank faced but funny person they always saw? The angry and scary person who fought a legend? The strong and angry person who fought against Zabuza? Just who was Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze?

"Yeah sensei, how was he able to fight one on one with Zabuza? He's never shown that kind of power, not ever." Satsuki also questioned, part of her felt afraid that there was someone strong like him so close to her. Unlike Anko who Satsuki knew was loyal to and loved the village, she knew that Naruto didn't really have any friends at all in the entire village. He didn't have a reason to save or even care about her other then the obligation of being on the same team. But another part of her was relieved that her teammate was so strong, maybe he could help her become stronger too.

Seeing the looks on her genin's faces, Anko made a muddled face as she admitted that she didn't know much about the blonde either. "Your guess is as good as mine you two. From what I've noticed in the past month, he doesn't really have any friends in the village. I guess we can count since we kind of hang out and stuff, but other then that, nada. He also doesn't seem to really try during training sessions, we've all seen that. But today, I don't know why, but he was really fired up to fight against Zabuza. It's even more surprising that he managed to actually fight him one on one for a little bit." Anko said, explaining what she's noticed so far. But she got confused looks from the students near the last part of her explanation.

"'For a little bit', Anko-sensei? But didn't it end in a draw?" Sasuke asked, confused as he saw both of them look like they were about to drop, Naruto actually doing that. Satsuki shared her teammate's inquiry, she thought it ended in a draw too.

"Trust me you two, if that battle had dragged on, Naruto would've lost. And I do mean he managed to match him for a little bit. At the start of the battle, he was being underestimated by Zabuza, which is understandable coming from his position. But as soon as they started clashing, Zabuza started to get sharper in his movements, completely different from how he fought against me or Naruto earlier. That means that during the fight, he was removing the rust that had probably built up over the past few years living as a nuke-nin. Naruto on the other hand started to react a little bit faster each time, but Zabuza was recovering more of his old skills as a swordsman much quicker then Naruto was polishing his. That's why I said he managed to match him for a little bit. Plus that form Naruto used... it caused a tremendous strain on his body." Anko explained to her students, seeing the looks of fear on their faces she couldn't help but put her hands on the top of their heads and ruffle their hair.

"Don't worry you two, next time I'll take him on. I underestimated him like an rookie the first time because I thought his skills diminished over the years, which they didn't. Next time, I'll go all out." Anko reassured her students, which worked seeing the relieved looks and smiles on their faces.

"Now enough questions about him, he saved us didn't he! Why don't we go check on our favorite Blondie!" She said, standing up and heading to his room with Satsuki and Sasuke in tow. As they opened the door, they were met with a shirtless Naruto in the process of taking off his pants. They all froze, staring at each other.

Satsuki's mind overloaded at the scene, she started stuttering and pointed at him as her mind tried to process the situation at hand. Her eyes turned into swirls as her faced turned a vibrant red that put a tomato to shame. Her mind furiously imprinting the image of her teammate to her memory against her will.

Sasuke was more embarrassed due to walking in on a guy but he fared much better than his sister.

Anko just stared, being the oldest of the bunch and having seen the male anatomy she didn't really react at all, though there was a very slight tinge of pink on her cheeks.

The slightly erotic moment was immediately broken when Naruto removed his hands from his pants and walked to the door his face blank. As he reached it, his face was still blank but his cheeks gained a light dusting of pink as he said one word before slamming the door in their faces.

"Weirdos."

After going back to changing Naruto chuckled at his teammates. He didn't really try to know them but he'd figured he'd help them to get near his level. As he began to head downstairs he opened his door only to walk straight Anko's bust. Falling straight on his ass from the impact Naruto quickly snapped on her.

"Grrr, Keep yer' tits away from me, you damn bimbo!" shouted Naruto as he rubbed his injured face before he looked up to see an angry Anko staring down on him.

_"Ehh. Ehhhhh?" _thought Naruto before he recieved a thunk over the head from Anko.

As Naruto came downstairs he was serverely bruised in the face. Sasuke asked what was wrong was with knowing smirk on his face with Naruto telling him 'shut up' in a heart beat. Anko followed suit before she sat down next to Naruto, trench coat buttoned up. Of course being the 'nice' woman she gave Naruto some pained killers to ease the pain.

Dinner that night was a silent and awkward affair.


	7. Chapter 6

_(Time skip - 1 week later)_

The days following Team 12 and Tazuna's return to his home were relatively tranquil minus the incident the first night back. During that period, Naruto managed to recover enough from his injury to do some very light training thanks to Anko's medical knowledge which him and his team found out about a few days ago when she was tending to him.

_(Flashback 2 days ago - Start)_

"There, that should take care of any of the lasting pain. Anything else ache or feel tight?" Anko asked, scanning Naruto with her Jutsu to check for any injuries that she missed.

"Ah, no. I'm fine now, thank you Anko-sensei." Naruto replied, slowly rotating his shoulder to see if there was any pain in it. He'd admit in a heartbeat, this was strange. He didn't think he'd warm up to Anko but after she accepted him, how could he not?

Seeing her student start moving something she just finished healing, Anko's eyebrow twitched before she hit him on the head. "You idiot! Don't just start moving right away, let your injuries settle down for at least an hour!" Her fist and the bump on Naruto's head smoking while Sasuke and Satsuki laughed wryly.

After the whole ordeal, Satsuki turned to and asked her how she knew Medical Ninjutsu. "Anko-sensei, how do you know Medical ninjutsu? I've never heard of anyone outside of the hospital and medical team that know it." As Satsuki and Naruto also looked at her with curious gazes.

Seeing the looks of her students, she gave them a small smile and told them the reason. "Well, Tsunade-sama has always pushed for a regime that made medical ninja a permanent addition to squads, to reduce the rate of casualties by having support in the event a member gets injured. Of course Minato-sama also agreed, but was overruled by the council, saying that they couldn't afford to risk medical ninja being casualties themselves since they're such a valuable resource to the village. But after that time, Tsunade-sama herself, offered to teach those who were willing to learn. At first, being an Anbu-captain at that time I wasn't interested at all, but then Orochimaru-sama told me that a captain wasn't just the strongest, fastest, or most knowledgeable; they were the ones who were responsible for making sure that their team made it out in one piece. At first I was skeptical, so I didn't take it completely to heart. The next mission after that, I lost my entire squad to a ambush set up by the same nuke-nin we were hunting down. If I had taken up Tsunade-sama's training, I would've been able to save at least one of them but in the end I failed them and they all died. After I retired from the Anbu and asked Tsunade-sama for her training which she said I mastered to the level of a head medic, which really surprised me and her since it only took a year. And well, that's where I am now! I learned it so that I don't lose anyone to my own powerlessness ever again, and I'm glad that I did." After finishing her story, she was met with the prideful eyes of her genin, which unnerved her greatly as they threw praises at her the rest of the night, to her embarrassment.

_(Flashback - End)_

After that, Naruto was peppered with questions about the skills he showcased when he faced Zabuza a week ago. However they all got the same response when they asked him, including Anko.

"Why? You wanna fight too?"

After a trying to get a different answer, they all eventually gave up. Naruto wasn't going to tell them and they didn't want to pry anymore then they already have. After things settled down, they learned of the situation of the Wave from Tazuna and Tsunami, that after Gato had taken control of it, its people had begun living in fear and poverty because of the tyrant. Things weren't that kind to the family either as they learned that Tsunami's husband, Kaiza, was tortured before they publicly executed him in the view of the entire village. That was what led to Inari's stark personality change from a optimistic and smiling boy to the pessimistic and perpetually frowning boy that they've seen.

Things seemed tense for a while when Inari snapped at the Konoha ninja and his family yesterday, saying that they had no chance against Gato. Naruto had scared the boy when he became angry before he left the house, returning in a slightly better mood the next day to the surprise of the group.

_(Flashback - Yesterday)_

"Why do you guys bother to try so hard?! No matter how hard you train, you're still no match for Gato's men! No matter what glorious claims you make or how hard you work, the weak will only end up getting killed!" Inari shouted at the group during dinner, his eyes burning with hatred looking at the Konoha ninja gathered around the dinner table.

Hearing Inari's words, Anko quickly lost the grin on her face, Satsuki stared intently at him, Sasuke's mouth thinned into a small line, but immediately the atmosphere turned tense when Naruto slowly stood up and looked at the boy, matching his glare with an icy gaze.

""Gehee. What was that? You little shit! I already beat his mad dog... I'll be beat anyone else he sends here too! Because I'm here to prove that I'm the strongest!"

Everyone was unable to speak, hearing that laugh from the blonde made them think of the last time the blonde did such a laugh. He went berserk on Zabuza. Inari was able to find his voice to retort, though it was in a shaky tone.

"I-I told you that it's hopeless. K-Kaiza was my hero, h-he told me that heroes exist and that you would be able to follow your dreams if you worked hard enough. But he died, Gato killed him! He was the Hero of the Wave, the person I dreamed of being! If Gato killed him, you guys aren't going to be able to beat him..." Inari was sniffling now, rubbing his eyes as tears made their way down his cheeks.

The situation remained tense, and increased even more when Naruto's eyes went bloodshot once again.

"Gato is nothing. He's so weak that he keeps sending his goons here. It makes me sick, to see these weak bastards call themselves the strongest!" Naruto said, his icy gaze warming up slightly as he finished his monologue.

Taking his scroll, he made his way to the door, stopping before he addressed Inari once more before he left.

"I'm tough because I can fight. But I'm strong because I'm not going to let anyone take my hopes away and if they try I'll do the same to them."

As the door closed with a soft click, Inari looked down at his hands, mulling over the words that the blonde said to him.

"To be strong I have to keep my hopes...?"

While Inari looked at his hands, the others, namely his team looked at the door where he left having the same thought running through their heads.

"Naruto..."

_(Scene change - Unknown part of the forest)_

After his little explosive monologue at the house, Naruto needed to get some fresh air, he still didn't know why he blew up and said such things. Seeing as he wouldn't be going back anytime soon, he decided to train through the night, honing his kenjutsu in preparation for his rematch with Zabuza. Eventually, after a few hours of training, his body still recovering, he leaned against a tree and let the backlash for using that technique take over.

_"Okay, I'll admit... I got carried away with that one..." _thought Naruto as he fell limp against the tree and had blood rushing down his face, coming from his eyes or his nose. The price for tapping into to such strength, you see Naruto would increase that output of his heart which would lead to increase blood flow, only without proper care he could possibly die.

_(Flashback Start- Naruto's 1st time using the technique)_

_"Yo seems like you went a little over board there. Perhaps I'd be a better opponent for ya!" Niko said as he came across a rabid Naruto completely annihilating some unknown man._

_Niko was clad in his tan cloak as usual but the key difference being his hair, it longer than usual and he had a grin that greatly resembled Naruto's._

_"Ha! Don't tell me! You think that just because you have that form, you can beat me? Ha! Not in million years kid!" __shouted Niko as he threw his cape to the side and let his bristling muscles be on full display!_

_"This party's getting crazy!"_

_(Flashback End )_

Morning soon came, with it a beautiful raven haired girl in a pink kimono picking herbs. Haku was getting the remaining ingredients for a painkiller that she was making for Zabuza. Sighing at the attitude of her master, for the past few days he was complaining about blonde brats and weak-ass power up skills, she finally had decided to get some fresh air and leave their temporary hideout.

As she hummed a happy tune and foraged for what she was looking for, she froze when she saw him. The same blonde that had caused such damage to her master a few days earlier. She contemplated killing him here and now, from what she had seen he was much more of a threat if he was able to get Zabuza-sama this riled up. Slowly reaching out for his neck, she was surprised when she got her wrist grabbed by the still sleeping shinobi.

Panicking slightly, Haku was about to pry off his hand when she saw his eyes opened. Captivated by those dark navy blue eyes, Haku momentarily forgot about the situation that she was in until it was broken by the blonde.

"Mind telling me what you're tryna' to do?" He asked, his face blank though his eyes seemed to stare into her soul.

"It looked like you fell asleep there; it's very cold out here in the forest you know. I was going to wake you up but you grabbed me instead." She said in a gentle tone, a smile on her face. As she said that, she felt the grip he had on her wrist vanish.

"My apologies, I'm a little on edge right now. Forgive my rudeness." Naruto said, getting up and bowing slightly, much to Haku's embarrassment.

"I-It's no problem, please don't bow to me, I'm not someone who deserves to be bowed at!" she replied in a slightly panicky tone, obliviously not used to being apologized to.

After the two introduced themselves, Naruto had offered to help Haku find the herbs that she was looking for, much to her surprise though she accepted. As the two worked together, Haku couldn't help but feel the need to talk to the blonde though she knew it wasn't a smart move.

"Naruto-san, may I ask why you were training so hard?" She asked, curiosity clearly in her voice. Turning to her, Naruto answered her question to her surprise, not expecting him to answer a stranger's question.

"I wanna win. This old guy beat the shit out of me. I have to be prepared for our rematch. Plus if I lose, I know some people who are going to be upset with me." He said with some feral amusement in his voice.

"They must be someone very precious to you." Haku said in a quiet tone of voice as she looked down, looking up she was met with a small smile that had her heart racing for a little bit, a blush on her face from seeing the handsome blonde.

"Yeah, I guess they are precious to me." Naruto said, with a faraway look in his eyes.

Finishing up, Naruto stood next to Haku as he handed her the rest of the herbs that she needed. As they were about to part ways, Naruto called out to her.

"Haku-san, send Zabuza-san my best regards. I'm expecting him to be ready for our rematch soon." As the words left his mouth, she nearly dropped her basket, pulling out a handful of senbon as she questioned him.

"You knew? If you knew then why did you help me?!" She shouted, in disbelief that he would actively and knowingly help his enemy. But the answer she got wasn't what she expected.

"Because you're similar to me. And also, I don't want a handicapped duel because he's still injured." He said, walking away back to Tazuna's house, leaving a speechless Haku behind.

"You're wrong! I have Zabuza! And I do know peace!" shouted Haku as she huffed at the dismissal of Naruto's take on her life.

"Ehh, it's your life Lady! Tell you what! If Zabuza fails, And you can beat me, then that means you're right and I'm wrong."

Staring at the back of the blonde, Haku couldn't remove the light fluttery feeling in her heart that she felt from the blonde's words. Giggling softly to herself, she didn't know it herself, but she headed back to the hideout in a happier mood then when she left.

When Naruto got back to the house, he was once again interrogated by Anko about his little outburst and where he went during the night, getting the same blank faced reply of "It was nothing important," before giving up and letting him off the hook.

_(Flashback - End)_

_(Time skip - 5 days later)_

As the days came and went, Team 12 beginning their training as Tazuna said the bridge would be complete by the end of next week, giving them one final week to prepare for Zabuza's inevitable return. During that time period, Anko had noticed that her genin had began to change slightly as they saw more and more of the situation of The Land Of Waves.

After he was evaluated to be fit for duty by Anko, Naruto now walked around with Sasuke and even teaching him in private. He was also training much more seriously then they had seen, doing exercises that made Anko cringe like doing sumo squats for an entire 6 hours before moving onto upside-down push-ups via chakra. She had also noticed that he was beginning to open up very slightly when around them, seeing a very small smile appear and disappear on his face.

Satsuki was training like there was no tomorrow. She had asked Anko for instruction on iryō ninjutsu, chakra control exercises, and surprisingly Suiton jutsu, not the typical Katon jutsu that the Uchiha used. After prodding from both Anko and Naruto, she eventually told them the reason why.

_(Flashback - 2 days ago)_

"So Satsuki, are you going to tell us why you're not asking for any Fire Style jutsu? I have a whole bunch that I can teach you, you know?" Anko said, her arms crossed over her chest as she smiled at Satsuki in a teasing manner.

"Yeah Satsuki, the Uchiha clan specializes in Katon jutsu! Suiton jutsu is the complete opposite, not that it's uncommon to use both." Sasuke asked, tilting his head in confusion.

"Fine already! I already know Fire Style but I have a small disposition to Water Style jutsu! I got it from my mom!" Satsuki said, her face red with embarrassment. She didn't like revealing her weaknesses to others, especially not her brother. Unlike her other clan members, her mother and herself had a Suiton based chakra affinities which made it difficult for them to use Katon based jutsu because they were natural opposites.

"That's all? You know that's not something that you should really be feeling down about you know." Anko said in a gentle tone, as she ruffled the hair of her student, much to her embarrassment.

"Ehh, don't sweat it. I'm sure it'll be just as effective." said Naruto as he fell off the side of the tree, finally exhausting his chakra.

As Satsuki smiled slightly, knowing that they didn't think any less of her, they turned their attention to the last member of their team, Sasuke. Feeling their stares he looked up from and stared right back at them.

"So what about you Sasuke? Which affinity are you?" Asked Naruto as he took the exact same position as Sasuke and began doing vertical push-ups.

"I'm Futon, Raiton, and Katon based." He said, before turning back and doing more push-ups, ignoring the looks of shock on his team's faces. You see Sasuke began to do work outs at Naruto's request as Naruto decided to teach Sasuke some of his own taijutsu techniques.

Now normally Sasuke would've been excited at such a prospect, but it was the way Naruto pitched the idea that made him upset about doing the workouts.

_( __Flashback - A Few Days Ago )_

"Sasuke Uchiha... You are weak. And frail too." said Naruto as he and Sasuke were currently practicing their chakra control, running on water was easy but tree's were new for Naruto so he struggled. But as he and Sasuke made it to the top branch the two sat across from each other.

"You trying to pick a fight dobe?!" asked Sasuke as he stood up ready to fight Naruto. He was already upset that he was so inferior compared to Naruto but this was nearly the last straw.

"I'd win. And that's my point. Just indulge me for a sec." said Naruto as he leaned against the tree, still recovering his chakra.

"Fine."

"Your weak, now I'm not talking about your body I mean your spirit. Without any drive you cannot protect anyone or anything. Let alone yourself." Naruto explained as he showed Sasuke what he defined as strong.

"Your body is frail but that can be changed quickly. Your drive is missing though."

Well... what drives you Naruto?" asked Sasuke as he had been wondering that for awhile now. Naruto had been fighting terrifying opponents for awhile now but he refused to back down he keot going whilst Sasuke remaind too scared to do anything.

"I'm not weak... Anyone who says so Is welcome to see for themselves..."

"I see... so what do you propose that I do to be like you?" asked Sasuke, he knew where this was going but he knew it'd be better not to interrupt.

"Nothing. You're not going to anything like me. You're going to be Sasuke Uchiha and I'm going to be me. I'm just going to help you grow is all." said Naruto as he handed Sasuke a scroll detailing what kata Sasuke was going to be studying.

Catching the scroll Sasuke didn't bother to look Naruto in the eye. He just stared off into the distance.

"Thanks..."

_( Flashback End )_

After the small moment of team bonding, Anko had given Satsuki a few scrolls on some water and medical ninjutsu.

Sasuke was similar to Satsuki, asking Anko for some of the same things, knowledge on Katon and sensory ninjutsu. She also noticed that she would always accompany Tsunami when she would go shopping, and when she returned she had a very sullen look on her face, most likely from seeing the situation first hand.

As the end of the week neared, a very dire situation that drew the attention to nearly all team members.

Naruto and Sasuke were practicing they're taijutsu via spar but it seemed Sasuke got carried away with one of Naruto's techniques. The **Flash Step**, a technique that caused the user to go so fast that the build up of chakra based energy would build up naturally.

"Haa!" shouted Sasuke as he attempted to stab Naruto with a lighting based technique he had been developing. The lighting began to chirp but it also did some damage to Sasuke's own hand as he channeled dangerous amounts of lightning chakra.

_"A jutsu? Hmm, that seems like Hatake's...__" _thought Naruto as he saw that Sasuke's hand was open to grab something. He'd seen Niko get into a tussle with Kakashi back in the day and he'd also seen him stop the infamous **Lightning Blade.**

_"To grab the lightning? Just like stopping that other one then!" _Taking the initiative Naruto formed his main three fingers into a lance and stopped Sasuke's attack by stabbing his open palm with his attack. Naruto thought he made the correct decision when he stabbed throw something only that something wasn't Sasuke's palm but rather the wall of chakra around his fist. This lead to the chakra dispersing around the two but due to the build up lightning chakra within Sasuke the two were trapped in a ring of chakra.

"What did you do?" asked Sasuke as he halted his attack and asked for an assessment. He'd never seen something like this before, although he'd figured he'd at least ask Naruto for advice.

"I'm not entirely sure... I think we trapped ourselves in a barrier..." said Naruto as he gave Sasuke's injured hand a look before paying attention to the lightlig ring. Being cautious Naruto threw his head band ofer the barrier before it was stopped by the barrier attacking it.

"Aww fuck!"

Snapping there heads Sasuke and Naruto were treated to the sight of their sensei in a towel sith her hair dripping wet. Naruto was so oblivious to the gender spectrum that he didn't really care that her butt stuck out a little on the end. Sasuke wasn't too fazed as he had affections for someone else but he did have a light tint of pink on his cheeks.

"What the hell are you two doing out here?!" shouted Satsuki as she too was dripping wet but she on the other hand was dressed.

"You take this one." said Sasuke as he nodded his head towards Satsuki, giving Naruto the incentive to handle Satsuki.

"She's your sister!"

"Listen! We've all made mistakes today let's just head back to the house." said Anko as she and Satsuki were on the same side. They even had Sasuke nodding his head in agreement. But as they started to walk away Sasuke stayed in the circle with Naruto.

"Well? Come on!" said Anko as she made a gesture to go ahead. She just wanted to get out of here for christs sake! First the sauna was crowded but then that kid took her clothes and now she was just being embarrassed! And she was pretty sure they were checking out her ass!

"W-we can't... we're stu-" started Naruto but he was cut off by the ring shrinking till it swallowed up Naruto and shocked the hell out of him.

"Urgggh!" was all that was heard before as smoking Naruto was left on the ground.

"Aww what the hell did you do?

_(Time skip - 3 days later)_

After nearly 2 weeks of waiting and training, Team 12's mission was close to being drawn to a close. Tazuna had told them that the finishing touches to the bridge were being made, that they should be finished with it by the end of the day. Excited both about the bridge being finished and about going home, the group decided not to train for the day, opting to save their energy in case of an emergency. Anko assigning her genin times to guard Tazuna on the bridge and having them rotate every few hours.

They couldn't really train per se, so they opted for talking out their techniques and chakra training of course. Sasuke was adapt having extreme control over his average chakra amount whilst Naruto on the other hand had mediocre control. He could funnel chakra where it needed to go but he couldn't distribute a small amount or big amount, instead he'd always funnel rrally large amounts.

As the day carried on, the sun beginning to descend below the horizon, Naruto and Sasuke were supposed to be rotated with Anko and Satsuki, but Sasuke insisted that he stayed, feeling like something was going to happen if both of them left Tazuna unguarded. Seeing as he wouldn't be able to change his mind and agreed with him, Naruto told her to tell Anko when she and Satsuki arrived. With that, Naruto headed back to Tazuna's house to check in on the family and rest.

_(Scene change - Tazuna's home)_

Tsunami was in the kitchen starting to wash the dishes from lunch, as Inari was in the bathroom washing up. Unknown to the two of them, two unknown people smirked as they drew closer to the house.

"Inari dear, could you hurry up and come help me with the dishes please?" Tsunami called out to her son, as she rinsed the leftovers off the plates and stacked them to the side.

"Coming mom, I'm almost done." Inari called back, as he was about to head out of the bathroom door, he heard his mom cry out and started to run to the kitchen.

"Kyah!" Tsunami cried out, her eyes widened as two men kicked the door to her house in.

"So you must be Tazuna's daughter Tsunami huh?" The taller of the two said as he and his partner started to approach her.

"Sorry, but you'll be coming with us." The shorter one said, as he reached out to grab her arm.

"Mom!" As he was about to grab her, Inari ran into the room, shouting for his mom and froze when he saw the men in his home.

"There's a kid here? Should we take him too?" The tall man asked, inclining his head slightly towards his partner.

"Nah, we don't need him, we only need her. Get rid of him." He sneered, as his partner pulled out his sword. But before any of them could do anything, Tsunami shouted at them.

"Don't you dare touch Inari! If you so much as touch a hair on his head, I'll bite my tongue off and drown myself!" She shouted, her eyes burning.

As his mom valiantly made a demand for his life, Inari could only fall onto his backside and start crying. Wishing that he could help his mom, that he could be a hero like Kaiza.

_(Scene change - The Bridge)_

Arriving at their destination, Anko and Satsuki were surprised when they saw Sasuke with a kunai in his hand glancing around intently. Approaching her, Anko demanded to know what he was still doing here, but was surprised when the normally quiet boy told her that he didn't feel right leaving Tazuna unguarded, even for a few minutes. About to praise him for his thoughtfulness, Anko stiffened and started glancing around when a mist started to appear.

"So, looks like he's finally here." Anko said, narrowing her eyes as she drew a kunai from her pouch. Satsuki following suit, as she quickly went to stand by Sasuke. The atmosphere was broken when a scream echoed out of the mist, causing the three to quickly rush to where it originated. And what they saw made them, especially Satsuki and Sasuke, freeze. Tazuna was kneeling down, holding one of the workers in his arms; the others were either unconscious or dead.

"What happened here!" He shouted, his eyes wide in disbelief. Noticing that Anko and her students had arrived.

"De-demon. Ca-came out of the mi-mist." Stuttered the man before he lost consciousness.

"Demon? Then… That means…" Sasuke began, pulling out a kunai as he steadied himself into a defensive stance as he scanned the area.

"…Zabuza is back." Satsuki finished, pulling out her own kunai as she took a defensive stance next to her teammate and Tazuna.

"Everyone be on guard, you've seen what he's capable of. But don't expect things to go any easier, expect them to be much harder." Anko said as she narrowed her eyes and tensed up, summoning her trusted tanto that she's had since her time as an Anbu operative.

As the group readied themselves, a thin mist started to roll in. Seeing the familiar mist, the group tensed a bead of sweat falling down Sasuke, Satsuki, and Tazuna's head while Anko tightened the grip on her tanto.

Soon, two silhouettes were visible as they approached the group. One was familiar while the other wasn't, as they were finally out of the mist they spoke.

"Hmm… Where's the blond brat? Me and him have unfinished business to attend to." Zabuza said, as he scanned the group for Naruto.

"Sorry, but he's not going to be joining us, you're just going to have to settle for little ol' me." Anko said in a cool tone as she took a step forward.

"I don't have time to waste dealing with you, I have a duel I need to finish." He said as he narrowed his eyes, tightening his grip on his Executioner Blade. But before he could do anything his companion stepped forward.

"Zabuza-sama, please allow me to deal with these kunoichi, save your strength for the boy. He is bound to return sooner or later." Haku said as she readied a handful of senbon.

Seeing Haku acting so willfully, Zabuza let a small smile work itself onto his face. Sighing at first, he went ahead and gave her the ok.

Before Haku could move though, Anko had closed the distance between herself and Zabuza, her tanto poised to pierce his heart as he swung his Executioner Blade to block the strike, resulting in a screech of metal and a shower of sparks.

"Change of plans Haku, take care of those brats, I'll take her on." Zabuza said as he narrowed his eyes, surprised by the speed and stealth of Anko.

Snapping out of her stupor, Haku nodded before she moved to engage Satsuki and Sasuke, the two narrowing their eyes as they readied themselves for their opponent.

"You know that your genin aren't a match for Haku. She's at least jōnin while those two are chūnin at best." Zabuza said in an attempt to throw off Anko, who gave a small smirk in return.

"You say that, but don't think that just because those two aren't as skilled as Naruto, that they can't hold their own." Retorted Anko, having seen the exceptional growth that her team had over the course of the past two weeks.

As they finished exchanging words, Zabuza and Anko returned to their battle, their blades colliding in a brilliant shower of sparks.

_(Scene change - Sasuke and Satsuki vs. Haku)_

While their leaders were fighting, the three across the bridge had finally made contact with each other. Sasuke and Satsuki going immediately on the offensive, throwing a volley of shuriken at Haku, who to their complete shock, dodged without trouble.

"I'm sorry, but I'm probably the worst opponent for the two of you to face off." Haku said in a slightly apologetic tone, as she drew a handful of senbon.

Narrowing her eyes, Satsuki didn't take kindly to the tone of voice that Haku was speaking in.

"Don't speak to us like you're better then us!" She shouted before locking eyes with Sasuke, who nodded his head before they re-engaged with their masked opponent.

Flashing throw a series of hand seals, Satsuki locked onto Haku before she said **"Suiton: Teppōdama!"** As she fired off a volley of basketball sized bullets of water at Haku as he readied his own set of seals.

Preoccupied with dodging the surprisingly fast bullets of water, Haku never noticed that Sasuke had finished his own set of seals until she heard him speak.

"I'm ready Satsuki!" Sasuke called out, before Satsuki ended her assault and jumped to the side, exposing Haku to her.

**"Suiton: Mizurappa!"** Satsuki said, as she put her hands in front of her mouth and fired a fast medium-sized jet of water that managed to connect with a stunned Haku, blasting her a few meters back.

_(Scene change - Anko vs. Zabuza)_

Seeing her genin handle the kunoichi that Zabuza said was jōnin level brought a smile to Anko's face, the teamwork that the two displayed was absolutely astounding. Her confidence now increased by ten-fold, she wasn't going to be shown up by her girls and applied more pressure to the stunned Zabuza. Slashing and stabbing with renewed vigor as he blocked and countered her strikes.

Zabuza was shocked, he didn't expect those two girls to take down Haku, but after the shock came confidence. Haku had probably forgotten that it wasn't one on one, but two on one, now that she actually got hit, she wouldn't make the same mistake twice. A smirk was hidden behind his bandages as he blocked a slash aimed at the back of his neck, and retaliated with a back fist that was avoided.

"Looks like your partner isn't as tough as you made her out to be." Anko jeered at Zabuza, however she didn't expect to get a dark chuckle in return.

"You keep talking all you want, Haku fell for a decent little plan, but now she won't fall for it again. Just hope that your genin won't be too torn up once she's done with them." Zabuza said as he charged Anko once again, noticing that she had stiffened up slightly at the foreboding words.

_(Scene change - Sasuke and Satsuki vs. Haku)_

Haku was angry at herself for forgetting that there were two opponents, not just one. While the black haired girl rained bullets of water at her, she became too cautious of the boy behind her that she wasn't focused on Satsuki until she was hit by a jet of water, which sent her flying back and knocked the air out of her lungs.

Having had enough, Haku decided to finish the battle before the tide shifted in their favor.

"I have to admit, your team work is extraordinary. But I have to end things here." Haku whispered, slipping into the mist as it started to become thicker then it was before.

After their plan worked, Satsuki and Sasuke were feeling unbeatable, that is, until they heard the voice of their opponent echo out of the mist, which seemed to have gotten thicker over the past few minutes, as they regrouped to continue their attack.

Standing back to back, they tensed as they lost sight of their opponent. Frantically scanning the area, they failed to find a trace of her as the mist devoured their field of view, limiting it to only a meter at best.

Finally, they heard or rather saw her, as their eyes widened in fear at what they had heard and saw.

**"Ice Release: Demonic Mirrors Ice Crystals"** Haku said, as a dome of mirrors made of ice surrounded the duo, an image of their opponent in each and every one.

"I'm sorry, but this will be the end for the two of you." Haku said ominously before steel rained down on the two.

_(Scene change - Tazuna's house)_

As tears started to fall from his eyes at the selflessness of his mother, Inari couldn't help but feel powerless as the two men shrugged and advanced on his mother.

Falling deeper into despair, Inari had flashbacks to his times spent with his mother, grandfather, and Kaiza. Then it flashed to the words that Naruto left him before he left the house that night.

Gritting his teeth and steeling his resolve, Inari stood up before he charged the two men that had his mother in their clutches, ignoring the taller of the two men unsheathing his sword.

"INARI!" Screamed Tsunami, seeing that her son was about to be cut down even after she bartered with her own life.

"Have fun in hell brat!" The man said as he swung at Inari, aiming to cleave him in two.

But the strike never came, the sound of flesh being cut didn't resound and instead the sound of a blunt object impacting something hard.

Everyone stopped, Tsunami and Inari tearing up at the sight of the newcomer while the men however, froze in fear. His forearm guard blocking the strike intended for Inari, Naruto stood firm, his eyes freezing the very soul of the man in front of him.

Before anyone could say anything, Naruto swung and sent the sword in the man's hand flying before slamming his backhand against the back of his head, a sickening crack resulting from the blow.

Seeing his partner get beaten down so easily, the shorter man quickly brought his sword up to Tsunami's neck in a desperate attempt to seize control of the situation.

"Don't you fucking move! If you do, her neck gets cut open!" He screamed, his eyes wide in fear and anger. Seeing that Naruto had stopped, he smirked before barking out his demands.

"Good, now put your arm out to the side. Do anything else and she gets it." He said, edging the blade closer to Tsunami's neck to prove his point.

Naruto did as he was instructed but he confused the man when a small smirk appeared on his face.

"The fuck are you smiling about! I said that you do anything else an-GWAAAH!" He didn't get to finish his statement as Inari smashed his groin with a brick. While his attention was focused solely on Naruto, he never noticed that Inari was slowly inching his way towards him and his mother.

Letting go of Tsunami and instinctively reaching down to cover his groin, he didn't notice that Naruto had reached his side until his world went black when Naruto's foot connected with the side of his head, sending him flying a few feet.

The thugs dispatched with, Inari and Tsunami embraced each other, tears streaming down their faces at the brush with death that both had experienced. Eventually, they stopped when Naruto approached the two, his face still blank.

But slowly, a small smile came to his face as he reached out and ruffled Inari's hair softly. "That was a very brave thing to do Inari. Ignoring your own safety to save your mother. That right there is something that a hero would do." Naruto said as Inari's eyes went wide as he looked at him.

"Re-Really...?" Inari timidly said, still in disbelief at what the teen had said.

With a smile filled with love and pride, Tsunami hugged Inari tighter. "He's right Inari, you did something that a hero would do."

Removing his hand from Inari's head, Naruto quickly told the two to find someplace safe to stay, telling them that a battle is definitely going to happen before he ran to the bridge.

Staring at the back of the teen, Inari gained a determined face before he nodded and ran towards the center of the village, his mother quickly chasing after him.

_(Scene change - Sasuke and Satsuki vs. Haku)_

Pain. Pain was all that he could feel at the moment. After Satsuki and himself were trapped in this dome of ice, their opponent had rained down steel on them. No matter how much they tried to dodge or counterattack, they weren't able to land a solid blow on her.

In contrast to their opponent who's only visible damage were the tears in the her kimono, Sasuke and Satsuki were covered in blood and senbon from Haku's relentless assault. She never let up her attacks and simply dodged mirror to mirror when they used their jutsu and weapons against her.

"Ha... Ha... Sa-Sasuke, what do w-we do now?" Satsuki asked, the pain she was feeling was like no other she had felt before. Her body was starting to go numb and she knew that Sasuke wasn't faring any better.

"I have an idea but I need time..." said Sasuke as he readied himself in a karate like stance, slowly gathering his chakra. He tried to remember what Naruto told him in his earlier training sessions on chakra control.

Hearing her teammate's defeated tone, Satsuki could only grit her teeth and clench her fists, knowing that Sasuke had grown stronger than her.

"..." Observing the duo, Haku felt pity for them. Like the boy said, they were outmatched, especially since they were trapped in her jutsu. Deciding that it was time to end it, she drew another handful of senbon and took aim at the black haired girl.

Seeing their opponent draw another handful of senbon, Sasuke and Satsuki tensed up, fear and apprehension visible on their faces. However, Sasuke's plan was ready with his attack. As soon as Haku took a step out of her ice mirror Sasuke met her speed with his own and stabbed her shoulder with his new technique, the **Devil Lance**.

As Haku took the attack by surprise she was pushed back into her mirror by Sasuke tackling her.

One of two things happened with the first being Sasuke's follow up attack, a razor sharp slash that caused Haku's kimono to be cut in half, diagonally, showing her undergarments to all.

The second thing to occur was an unforeseen effect that neither Sasuke nor Haku would've foreseen. With Sasuke technically being inside Haku he too was pulled into the mirror but he didn't possess the same kekkai genkai so the extreme cold hit Sasuke like a truck, automatically paralyzing him.

Throughout the whole exchange, Haku remained silent. Letting Sasuke become frost bitten. Haku had never had someone enter her mirrors before, it was intriguing to say the least. She felt a pang shoot through her heart, finally feeling the pain from Sasuke's follow up attack. But what she wasn't prepared for was what happened next.

As Haku quickly made her kimono presentable she was completely shocked to feel heat by her side. Snapping her head to see what was happening she was surprised to see black flames burning through her mirrors!

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Satsuki shouted before whispering out a jutsu that shocked Haku, not expecting a girl like her to know such a powerful jutsu.

**"Amaterasu."** Satsuki whispered as her eyes began to bleed, with her sharingan assuming a different shape. The black flames rushes towards Haku as her mirrors began to melt.

_(Scene change - Anko vs. Zabuza)_

Hearing Satsuki's growl, Anko froze, knowing that something must've triggered her to use that Mangekyo Sharingan that she was told about. Her suspicions were then answered when Satsuki used the black flames that she had shown Anko earlier in the week, one that she had deliberately told her to never use unless it was an emergency.

"Well looks like Haku took care of one of them. I'll admit, they sure did give her a hard time. That brat managed to use the demon flames, pretty impressive." Zabuza commented, blocking a strike from an enraged Anko.

"I'm going to end the two of you in the most painful way possible." She whispered, her eyes cold and sharp, promising to act on her threat as she lunged forward with her tanto catching Zabuza on the arm.

"Scary eyes you got there, but that's all that scary." He responded, getting cut slightly by her tanto. Side stepping, he slipped by her guard before swinging Kubikiribōchō in a vertical slash to bisect her, which Anko dodged, retaliating with a side swipe which Zabuza blocked once again.

They had been fighting for almost an hour now, both were covered in cuts and scratches, but nothing debilitating enough to cause one to gain the upper hand. Having had enough of this battle, Anko flashed through a series of seals before glaring at Zabuza.

**"Sen'eijashu!"** Anko shouted before a series of snakes shot out of her sleeves towards Zabuza, who managed to evade all but one snake.

"GAH!" Zabuza shouted, having had one of the snakes land a bite on his forearm. Immediately after being bit, his arm went numb and slowly he lost the ability to use it, the feeling of numbness slowly creeping its way up his arm.

"Heh, looks like it's game over Zabuza. The snake that bit you didn't have any of the more deadly venom, it had a powerful paralytic neurotoxin. It won't kill you, but you're not going to be moving anytime soon."

Just as Zabuza was about to make a retort, a wave of water crashed nearby, Haku appearing next to him slightly out of breath with her leg slightly bent out of place.

"Ha... Ha,... My apologizes Zabuza-sama. But I wasn't able to finish off the other girl. She surprised me with her jutsu and managed to escape from my Ice Prison." Haku reported in a dejected tone, supporting her master as he lost the feeling from left side of his body.

Arriving to the scene next was Satsuki holding Sasuke bridal style, who quickly made her way to her sensei.

Seeing her genin in such a rough state, Anko couldn't even get angry. The anger she felt evaporated into concern, especially when she laid eyes on the pale Sasuke in Satsuki's arms. Looking at her, Satsuki looked down and shook her head, and Anko immediately knew as she felt her anger bubble back up.

But the tense situation was broken when they heard a cane tapping on the edge of the bridge.

"Well, well, well. Looks like the 'Demon of the Hidden Mist' turned out to be a failure." A voice sneered from the mist. Slowly, a small silhouette made its way to the group, and when he arrived, Zabuza let out a growl.

Gato had seen the last part of the battle and to say he was displeased would be an understatement. He had hired Zabuza because of his renown skill, but apparently a women and a couple of girls were enough to stop him.

"The fuck did you say you bastard!" Zabuza roared at him, having his pride stepped on by a scumbag like Gato didn't sit well with him at all.

"You had better apologize to Zabuza-sama or else." Hearing her master be insulted by this pitiful excuse for a human being infuriated Haku to no end, if not for the fact it would leave Zabuza defenseless, she would've lunged at him.

"Heh, big talk from a dead man. Why do you think I decided to come now of all times huh? The lot of you are worn down and injured from your little battle, so I figured it's time to clean up. Get the hell out here!" As he shouted, a large mob of hired mercenaries and thugs started making their way behind him.

One big issue that arose was the bigger man was extremely untaimed black hair and peircings along his brow.

Seeing the new threat in front of them, the group tensed up. All of them were injured and if they weren't they were exhausted from the past hour of fighting. The best option now would be to retreat, but they wouldn't get far seeing as there were some ninja mixed into the army that Gato had assembled. They tensed up even more when they heard what Gato said next.

"Alright, well times up. Kill them all! But if you bring me back any of those girls and that women, you'll get a bonus bigger then you can imagine." He said in a lecherous tone, making a shiver run up the spines of the females present.

Before any of them could no anything, Zabuza stood up on his own and took up a defensive stance in front of the small group, to the surprise of everyone.

"You fucking pig. You aren't touching a hair on any of them, espeically not Haku." Zabuza growled out. He may not have been the kindest or purest of people, he was far from it, but there were some things that even he thought was evil. What Gato was saying was one of those things.

"Damn... My body is still numb from that snake. I can barely move, but I should be able to buy some time for Haku to get out of here."

"Haku."

Hearing Zabuza speak to her in such a soft tone made her eyes widen, not liking the ominous undertone to his voice.

"Ye-Yes Zabuza-sama?" She timidly said.

"I want you to get out of here right now." Zabuza said in a tone of finality, however it was badly recieved by Haku.

"Wh-What are you saying Zabuza-sama! You want me to abandon you!?"She nearly screamed, her eyes wide at the obscene order from her master.

"Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I may not have been the best person and I don't have many things that I cherish anymore... But I'll let you know that I did cherish you, even if I didn't show it." With that, Zabuza staggered slightly before he rushed towards the army to the shock and horror of the group.

"ZABUZA-SAMA!" Haku screamed, not believing what she was seeing.

"Heh, looks like this is how I go eh. Not too bad, the 'Demon of the Hidden Mist' protecting a group of girls from a scumbag who hired and then betrayed him. What a twist."

But before the two opposing sides reached each other, a laugh could be heard in the distance. It was a distant chuckle that quickly became a loud howl.

"HehehehehahahahahaHAHAHAHAHA!"

_"What!?"_ Was the collective thoughts of the people present, until they heard the laughter echo out of the now clearing mist.

"Naruto!" Anko shouted, relieved that her student was safe and that he was here with them. Her sentiments were shared with the rest of the group, Satsuki releasing the breath that she held, Haku tensing before relaxing, and Zabuza cracking a small grin.

"Sorry I'm late Anko-sensei, there was another small militia group that tried to attack the town that I had to take care of." He replied, his eyes never leaving the army in front of them. With his signature grin prsent as well.

"Guh, you damned brat! They were supposed to take out the rest of the village!" Gato shouted, enraged that his backup plan was ruined by a child.

"You guys should get going... This party's getting crazy!" shouted Naruto as he began to step towards the pierced man.

"You're doin' it again Naruto. Let us help." Anko said as she stood up shakily. She knew she couldn't win if they were jonin level but she wasn't going to leave her student behind.

"I ain't goin' do a damn thing!" said Naruto as he never broke eye contact with that other man, as if he was challenging him.

"Isn't that right!? Iron mongel..." said Naruto as he taunted the man, his eyes becoming overshadowed. As if he was taken back the man began to chuckle as well.

"Gehe! So, you two huh?! Let's go then!" shiuted the man as he flexed all his muscles causing the viens to pop out. The man's visage quickly change, forming a image similar to that of a demons. The killing intent the nan released was just like Zabuza's.

"Gajeel! Wait for my orde-" began Gato before he was cut off by a kick from the now revealed Gajeel. Gajeel had his left leg raised and with a quick sickle kick he cut through Gato's entire army. Gato excluded of course.

"Oh right... your shorter than most" said Gajeel as he focused his intent on Gato. Unfortunately before Gajeel could act Naruto had ran over and attacked using the same technique as Sasuke, the **Flash Step.**

Only instead of a critical attack Naruto was met with abnormal hardness that caused his knuckles to quickly bleed and nearly break. Not even fazed, Gajeel turned his attention to Naruto before he threw twelve lightning fast jabs that shattered Naruto's gauntlets, before he headbutted him to the floor.

_"That's not good..." _thought Naruto as he quickly got up but was met by a right hook from Gajeel. Attempting a counter Naruto snaked Gajeel's arm in a hold ready to break it. Only he couldn't! He tried to snap the bone but he couldn't due to Gajeel's unforeseen hardness.

Looking up Naruto noticed that Gajeel was also holding Gato by the throat before his own throat was gripped by the strong man.

"Not gonna lie kid, I'm severely disappointed in ya skills." Gajeel said as he tossed Gato off the side of the bridge before raising Naruto and punching him so hard that he was sent flying across the bridge, scidding across the surface.

"Guha! Yours aren't!" said Naruto as he stood up and spit out blood. As Naruto skidded across the bridge he was met with a saw the side. But as Naruto stood up he was about to race back but was surprised by Gajeel yet again.

"Get up! I'm gonna show you the insurmountable wall between us!" said Gajeel as he Naruto was already next to each other. As Gajeel reached down to grab Naruto he was met with a **Devil's Lance** to the stomach.

Such an attack was useless against someone like Gajeel due to their unbelievable hardness. You see like Naruto, Gajeel was the successor to someone strong, only he wasn't exactly the stoic type, but neither was Naruto. Gajeel was an Iron Mongel. A type of figgter who's iron was so dense they could command it at will, even as go so far as change parts of their bodies.

_"He's definitely stronger than me... but he sure as hell ain't faster!" _thought Naruto as he quickly attacked Gajeel with his Devil's Lance.

_"After he coughs out the blood I'll follow up with gulloti-" _thought Naruto but he was shocked to see that he didn't pierce and that Gajeel didn't cease his attempt to grab Naruto. And grab he did!

As Gajeel's grip held Naruto in place he slammed his fist into Naruto's back, slamming him through the bridge into the water.

_"He's... strong... stronger than me... you pass mongel!" _thought Naruto as he sunk in the water before he was grabbed by the hair and pulled up by Gajeel. Being occupied with his thoughts Naruto laid limp as he was roughly yanked from the watery depths, although Naruto was extremely happy to meet someone stronger than him for once.

"Come on ki-" shouted Gajeel before he was punched so hard by Naruto that he was sent to the surface of the water. Not letting him get comfortable Naruto kicked Gajeel in the face sending him up against the leg of the bridge.

"Is that all you go- ugh!" Gajeel began before Naruto tackled he though the concrete.

_( Scene Change- With Anko and Zabuza )_

"What the hell is that guy?! Can your brat really take him?!" shouted Zabuza as he grew concered for the brat. He didn't really know him but if he died before their rematch he'd be sure to kill him for it.

"No he can't, he's too reckle-" Anko began but she was cut off by Gajeel being sent through the bridge from Naruto's attack. Gajeel was bleeding profusely from minor cuts while Naruto was bruised all over and had blood dripping from many open wounds, mainly the ones on his arms.

But none of those worried Anko, no, what did worry her was that monsterous form Naruto was using again. She knew that it eventually lead to death for the users so she told him not to use it but he was far too stubborn to listen.

"Grrrrrrrrr." was that was heard before a huge boom was heard from above. As they looked up they were treated to Gajeel shooting down at them, with his body literally being steel.

"HaHA! Bring it!" shouted Naruto as he steeled himself for Gajeel's attack. He could he knew he could, be it steel, diamond, it didn't matter! He cut em down to size!

Aiming his body at Naruto, Gajeel slammed into Naruto, causing the two to comet into the bridge and traveking along the wholething, destroying most of the work in yhe process.

"Gehee! Not bad kid. You're really something but my iron won't be beat by cheap techniq-" Began Gajeel but he stopped himself as he saw Naruto had cladded himself in Iron as well.

Undoing the transformations Naruto fell to his knees before coughing up some more blood.

"How do you know that technique?" Gajeel questioned as he gained tickmarks, just looking at the defeated Naruto. He was livid, only he should know those techniques, he made sure of it! Or so he thought...

Naruto could barely see Gajeel, let alone hear. His mouth and left brow was swollen so he wasn't fairing too well to say the least. He thought he might die but damn was he happy he was able to fight someone so strong... though he would miss his team.

As Naruto was on the ground he heard an annoying squeaking sounds to his left. Slowly looking over Naruto was treated to an iron fist courtesy of Gajeel. Gajeel didn't stop there as he beat the wonded kid before draggin him out of the crater and began brutally kicking him all over. Lifting Naruto up he was pleased to see that Naruto was still awake. He had a surprise for this little shit.

Pushing Naruto back a little Gajeel waited for Naruto to stumble forward before he skeward Naruto on one of his most lethal techniques. **The Iron Dragon Slayers Sword**. As the sword stabbed Naruto in the stomach Gajeel lifted the wounded boy so he could see himself die.

"Shit! Ugh! Guha!" spouted Naruto as he was barely able to remain conscious due to the blood loss and pain.

_"I'll have to do it..."_ thought Naruto as he was about to use the greatest technique in his arsenal. Fortunately for him Naruto was saved by a canon ball that hit Gajeel and undid his iron transformation.

The ball hit Gajeel and sent him tumbling away across the bridge, freeing Naruto from his brutality.

"Naruto-niichan! We're here to protect the Wave!" He shouted, as he sat atop a bigass canon with smoke trailing out of it. The villagers behind him shouted in agreement. But they were soon quieted when they saw the carnage that littered the bridge, some turning green and other losing their lunches at the scene.

Tazuna winced, but he knew it was needed in order to save the Wave, and he also didn't feel anything for the men who tried to take his home from him.

As the village was collecting their bearings they were quick to spot Gato climbing up the side of the bridge.

"There he is!"

"Kill him!"

"No, make him suffer first!"

The villagers immediately congregated on the man, his screams echoing across the village.

As Naruto looked back to Gajeel he was relieved to see that he was gone. Where? He didn't care at the moment. He just wanted sleep.

_(Time skip - 2 hours later)_

After the battle on the bridge and the torture and execution of Gato, The Land of Waves had finally been freed. Using the information that he gained from Sazu, Naruto had told the villagers of the whereabouts of those who were kidnapped and of Gato's stronghold, to which the villagers promised they would go and take.

While tense at first, the two groups; Team 12 and Zabuza and Haku, made peace with each other. At first things there was no trust given the prior circumstances, but once Haku revealed that she had not killed Sasuke but put him in a suspended sleep, they lost all anger that they had towards her.

When Sasuke woke up, he was promptly glomped by Satsuki and Anko, who were worried sick about him, Satsuki bawling her eyes out telling him not to do something stupid like that again. Naruto also expressed his concern by asking if he needed anything to which he said no, Anko having healed all of them from most of their more debilitating injuries.

Eventually, the time came to leave The Land Of Waves, which was a tearful moment, the group having been hailed as heroes by the villagers for protecting their homeland.

"Well, looks like this is goodbye huh." Zabuza said, his voice strangely sad, the group having grown on him in the past few hours.

"It seems so, what are we going to do now Zabuza-sama?" Haku asked, in a sad tone, their main source of income now gone.

"Don't know Haku, guess we'll just wander the nations again." Zabuza replied, looking off into the distance.

Seeing the two like that caused Team 12 to look at them with pity, a life on the run was difficult. That is until Naruto suggested something outrageous.

"Zabuza, Haku, why not come back with us to Konoha?" Naruto said, everyone freezing once they heard him.

"Wh-What? You're joking aren't you brat?" Zabuza said in a doubtful tone of voice, though there was a small hint of hope in his eyes.

"I'm not joking Zabuza, I'm the son of the Hokage, I can get away with alot shit." said Naruto as he gave Zabuza a fist bump to Zabuza's shoulder.

At his words, not just Zabuza and Haku were shocked, the rest of Team 12 was stunned as well. Even Anko thought that that plan was ingenious.

"You... You're not pulling my leg or anything right brat?" Zabuza asked in a surprisingly hopeful tone.

"I'm not Zabuza, I actually hope that you accept, we still haven't finished our fight you know." Naruto said, shaking his head and driving the final nail in the coffin with his last statement.

"I... I don't know what to say... What do you think Haku? Think it's fine if we join Konoha?" Zabuza turned and asked his younger companion.

"I-I would like to try Zabuza-sama, we've been running for a long time now. It would be nice to settle down somewhere safe." Haku timidly said, still not used to the newly discovered soft side of her master.

"Well if Haku says that she wants to try, I'm willing to try as well." Zabuza finally agreed, extending his hand towards Anko.

"Well now that everything is under the bridge, literally, it can't hurt to try right?" Anko said, meeting Zabuza's hand in a firm handshake.

"Then it's settled, lets head back home." Naruto said, as the group bid farewell to the villagers of the wave, to which they called back out to them.

"Everyone thank you! Thank you for giving us back our lives!" The villages shouted to the group.

"Naruto-niichan! I'll do it! I'll embrace my dreams and become a true hero like you!" Inari shouted at his new older brother figure.

_"A hero? All I did was yell at him and get my ass kicked..." _thought Naruto, he was still upset by that mostly one sided fight with Gajeel.

"Well, now that everything is settled, why not give a name to the bridge huh? I think that 'The Great Tazuna Bridge" has a nice ring to it!" Tazuna suggested, which most the his fellow villagers boo'd at.

"Hmm... How about 'The Great Naruto Bridge'!" Inari suggested with a smile, the rest of the village cheering loudly at the fitting name, for the one who had most to do with saving their village.

"My name was better... Haha, 'The Great Naruto Bridge' huh? I think it sounds great!" Tazuna laughed, as The Land Of Waves celebrated the first festival that marked the day that it earned its freedom from a corrupt crime lord thanks to the combined efforts of four Konoha ninja and two missing nin.


	8. Chapter 7

_(Time skip - The day after leaving The Land Of Waves)_

After departing from The Land Of Waves, the group of Naruto, Anko, Sasuke, Satsuki, Zabuza, and Haku had a silent and slightly awkward trek back to Konoha. The main source of this stemmed from the events that happened over the past few hours, Team 12 still not trusting the two and vice versa. Soon, the lull of the moment was broken by Anko who decided to ask about the past few years of the new members of their group.

"So... Where have the two of you travelled over the past few years?" Anko asked, trying to dispel the awkward atmosphere.

"We've been here and there, we never really stayed in one place for too long. Didn't know if hunter-nin were snooping around, so we tried to make as little contact with people as possible, only stopping to trade with a few merchants before we left." Zabuza replied, releasing a relieved sigh that someone broke the ice.

"It's just as Zabuza-sama said, we didn't stay in one place for very long at all. In fact, our time in the Land Of Waves was probably the longest we've stayed in one place." Haku chipped in, also glad the Anko had broken the ice.

Soon the group fell into a comfortable conversation, the girls asking the two about their travels and adventures over the past few years. A big shocker for them was that Haku was only a year older then them, which was astonishing considering how strong she was.

_(Time skip - A few hours later)_

After Anko broke the ice and they finally became comfortable around each other, time flew by quicker then they thought, during their conversation night had fallen forcing them to set up camp for the night.

"Ahh, well that was a fun conversation huh!" Anko cheerfully said, having learned some interesting things about the pair, as she started to prepare the fire.

"Heh, I'll admit, it wasn't so bad. I half expected you brats to keep quiet like the adults talked." Zabuza said, laughing slightly as he proceeded to pitch the tent.

"It was fun, I'm glad that I got to know Anko-san, Sasuke-san, Satsuki-san, and Naruto-san a little more!" Haku happily said, helping her master with pitching the tents.

"Tch, whatever. It's not like your stories were interesting or anything, I was just trying to kill the time." Satsuki said, helping Sasuke with collecting firewood.

"I agree with Haku-san, it was very nice to get to know you and Zabuza-san more!" Sasuke said, also cheerfully said, piling on the firewood that Satsuki brought her.

_"He's so damn polite..."_ thought Naruto as he was blown away by how polite Sasuke usually was, even after receiving a beating from Haku.

While the others were happily chatting with each other, Naruto opted to remain silent as he did during the past few hours. It wasn't that he wasn't interested, but rather he was thinking about his plan when Zabuza and Haku entered the gates. No doubt having an A-class missing-nin from Kiri is going to warrant action, no matter how peaceful they appeared.

After they had finished setting up camp, Naruto had offered to keep watch, which the other accepted gratefully. However instead of waking one of them up to switch shifts with, he stayed up the whole night, letting the others get a full night of sleep.

When morning broke, everyone had realized that none of them remembered ever being woken up to switch shifts with their blonde companion. Rushing out of their tents, they were met with the delicious aroma of something cooking that tantalized their noses. Looking towards the direction of its source, they saw Naruto standing over the fire from last night a pot and pan cooking up breakfast.

Dumbfounded by the sight, they were broken out of their thoughts when their stomachs rumbled, catching the attention of the blonde.

"hey. y'all can have the rest if you want some, might be cold though." said Naruto as he continued to eat the eggs.

Quickly washing up, Zabuza was the first to get done as he sat down on a log that rested near the fire. Figuring that since the rest of the group consisted of females, and Sasuke, they'd have a little time to kill before they got back.

"Hey brat, so you alright? You stayed up the whole night without swapping out you know." Zabuza said, trying to start up a conversation with the blonde.

"I'm fine Zabuza, I stayed up because I had to clean up the blood." Naruto replied, finishing with frying the strips of bacon and eggs while stirring the breakfast stew that consisted of potatoes, sausage and various other vegetables.

"Haha, that form you took has some serious drawbacks, huh? So tell me, where'd you learn taijutsu? The that style that you use and that form... they look so familiar to me yet they don't. Who taught you?" He asked, the question that had been nagging at him since the moment they crossed paths weeks ago.

Turning slightly to face the older man, Naruto just gave him a blank stare before he shrugged, turning back to finish up cooking.

"Sorry Zabuza, but that I can't tell you... but the one who taught me, would rather have me dead than tell others..." Naruto said, to which Zabuza nodded, understanding that he didn't want to be pressed to answer anything else.

"Well when you're ready brat, make sure I'm the first person that you tell alright!"

Moving past the slightly uncomfortable topic, the two moved onto swordsmanship, jutsu, and training. Soon Zabuza had a wide grin on his face and was laughing, patting Naruto on the back as Naruto had a small smile on his. If one were to look at the scene without any prior knowledge of the two, they would have suspected that they held a close bond with each other.

Four people did see the scene; two were bewildered at the odd display of closeness, one just smiled at the display, and the final pouted at the sight.

"Hey! How come you never act that way around me huh!" Anko complained, pouting at Naruto for never showing her the same smile that was on his face at the moment.

Hearing her voice, the two turned around and were greeted with the sight of the rest of their little group back from a lengthy half hour long session of washing up.

"That's because you aren't as great as I am!" Zabuza proudly said, puffing out his chest as he boasted to a now irate Anko.

The tension was broken by soft giggling from Haku as she approached the two, happy for her master.

"I'm very happy for you Zabuza-sama! You've found someone who you can truly connect with!" Haku said innocently not realizing the double entendre of her words.

"Uhh... The way you put it makes it sound really wrong Haku..." Zabuza muttered as Anko smirked while the rest of the group blushed slightly.

Though the atmosphere turned awkward for a brief moment, it was soon broken when everyone started laughing and gather around for a delicious breakfast courtesy of the blonde sitting with them.

Packing up quickly and removing any traces of their overnight stay from the clearing, the group continued on towards Konoha with the light of the rising sun.

_(Time skip - 2 hours later)_

Finally, with the sun overhead in the cloudless blue sky, the group had finally made it to Konoha. The immense gates a welcome sight after nearly a month of being away. While the Konoha ninja were looking on in fondness, besides a blank faced Naruto. Zabuza and Haku looked on in awe, the two never having truly seen the impressive gates in person.

"How amazing, they're enormous" Haku said, her eyes wide as she stared at the sight in front of her.

"All my life I've never seen them in person. Really dwarfs the stories that your hear from other people." Zabuza said, whistling in appreciation at the sight.

As they neared the gates, the familiar faces of Kotetsu and Izumo came into view.

"Hey, Izumo look!" Kotetsu nudged his partner awake, seeing faces he hadn't seen in nearly a month.

"Huh? Wha? What is it Kotetsu?" Izumo said groggily, his brain still in the process of booting up.

"Looks like Team 12 is back from their mission! Took them a lot longer then I expected though, thought it was just an escort mission."

"No you dolt, it was an escort and protection mission! Didn't you write down their mission details before leaving!?" Izumo snapped, knocking his partner on the head for his memory slip.

Once they got to the gates, the two greeted them but paused when they saw who they were with.

"I-Is that Za-Zabuza Mo-Momochi?!" Kotetsu stuttered out, clearly intimidated by the man in front of him. His partner was also shaken up, the clipboard in his hand shaking along with his body.

Seeing their scared states, Anko quickly defused the situation before things got out of hand.

"Hey, he's with us! We need to get to the Hokage's Tower immediately, so hurry up so we can get a move on!" She order, as the two instantly stiffened up and followed through. However, before they could process Zabuza and Haku, a squad of Anbu surrounded the two.

"Halt, the two of you are under arrest." A boar masked Anbu said, taking a step towards Zabuza and Haku.

But before either side could retaliate, Naruto stepped in between them.

"Anbu guy, I know that you're doing your duty to protect the village but these two are under protection and are being escorted to the Hokage himself by Team 12. Due to circumstances of our mission, they have decided to join Konoha willingly as a way to gain amnesty from Kirigakure. So please allow us to proceed with our passage." Naruto said in a level tone, but during the exchange, his eyes started to spark an electric blue glow as opposed to his normal navy.

Stiffening slightly from the soul piercing gaze of the boy in front of him, the Anbu relented, signaling the rest of his squad to disperse.

"Whoa, that was impressive Naruto! Staring down an Anbu captain and actually talking back to him, you got some balls brat!" Anko said, whistling slightly in awe at the exchange.

"Hey, thanks for sticking up for us brat. I half expected a fight to break out." Zabuza admitted, patting Naruto on the shoulder as a sign of thanks.

"Umm, thank you for standing up for us Naruto-san. That was very brave of you to do so." Haku said in a bashful tone, a light dusting of pink on her cheeks as she smiled at him. She never noticed that behind her, Satsuki's eyes started twitching slightly.

After settling the tense moment from before, the group headed towards their original goal, ignoring the slightly tense atmosphere around them from the people who knew who they were, specifically Zabuza.

_(Scene change - Hokage's Tower)_

Eventually, they made it to the top of the tower, the secretary nervous knowing the face of the man in front of her but eventually allowed them inside. Team 12 went inside without problems, though they were on guard, strangely they acted somewhat protective of the two who followed behind them.

In contrast to the cool yet cautious entrance of the four in front of them, Zabuza and Haku were nervous and tense, Haku especially. But most of her anxiousness vanished when Zabuza put a comforting hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently, reassuring her that everything would be fine.

Finally, they stood in front of Minato who had a squad of Anbu stationed near the windows, earning a nervous glance from the two outsiders.

"Team 12, welcome back from your mission. That certainly took much longer then I anticipated. I imagine that some... complications came up correct?" Minato spoke calmly, though near the end he casted a glance to the two behind them.

"Hai Hokage-sama. The C-Rank mission that was assigned to us about a month ago quickly escalated into a A-Rank due to the influence of various missing-nin and mercenaries." Anko reported, her arms folded behind her back.

Behind her, Sasuke and Satsuki gulped when they saw Minato's eyes widen at the bit of information, obviously expecting the worse lecture of their lives.

"You mean to tell me that you broke common procedure and carried out the mission regardless of the danger that was present?" Minato said, his voice growing colder as he neared the end causing a bead of sweat to drop down the heads of everyone present.

"H-Hai Hokage-sama. But I assure you that it was-" She was cut off by Minato in the middle of explaining her reason for doing so.

"Anko. Mission protocol states that in the event that a mission isn't what was requested, the team or ninja is to immediately return back to the village and blacklist the individual that requested it. You brought 3 genin who haven't had any experience with missions outside of the village on an A-Rank mission that could've cost them their lives. Do you know how irresponsible that is!" Minato nearly shouted at the end, obviously displeased by her actions. Anko could only drop her head in shame, her genin looking on with wide eyes at the exchange.

"What you did endangered the lives of the ones who you're supposed to be helping nurture and grow! What if one or all of them died!? What would you have done?"

By this point Anko was shaking slightly, her hands clenched into fists as Minato's words started cutting her much more deeply then before, having flashbacks to her old Anbu squad that died because of her.

"Honestly, I expected better from you! You should what breaking protocol entails but you went ahead and did it anyway! Even for you tha-" Minato wasn't able to finish his lecture as Naruto stepped forward in front of his team, his usually blank navy eyes replaced with electric blue ones.

"God damn Hokage-SAMA!"Naruto said, raising his voice at Minato, stunning the occupants in the room from the amusement that was held in it.

"While most of what you have said is true, Anko-sensei didn't break protocol on her own. Hell, If I had a chance to the leave this place what do you think I'd do?...Dad!" Naruto said, his eyes mischievous at Minato, amused at the fact that he started lecturing Anko before he knew all the facts about the mission. As Naruto spoke he walked around the room and spread his arms around when he gestured 'this' place.

"Naruto." Anko softly said, she was starting to become scared of her student and that made her feel unbearable sad. Evidence in the corners of her eyes from a combination of Minato's lecturing and Naruto's words to his father.

"Hokage-sama, it wasn't just Naruto! We all agreed as a team to keep on going!" Satsuki said as she stepped forward next to Naruto, not letting her teammate take all the blame for what happened during the mission.

"Satsuki and Naruto are right Hokage-sama! Anko-sensei told us to turn back and follow protocol but we insisted that we continue with the mission regardless of what would happen!" Sasukesaid as he also stood with his team, knowing that Anko wasn't the one to blame.

"You guys..." Seeing her genin standing up for her was the last straw as Anko let a few stray tears fall from her eyes.

"As you can see Hokage-SAMA,we were the ones who broke protocol. Anko-sensei was simply doing her duties as a sensei and allowing us to carve our own path as ninja as she protects and guides us. If there is anyone who you wish to place blame on, then place it on me, but don't think about placing it on Anko-sensei or my teammates because they aren't the ones responsible for any of this." Naruto said his eyes never losing the fierceness that burned inside of them.

Everyone was stunned by Naruto's vocal defense of his teammates, especially Minato who had never heard his son's voice be more then a deadpan. Finally, after a few tense seconds, Minato sighed.

"Anko, I sincerely apologize for my actions. I should have let you finish your report before I said anything else." Minato said in a solemn tone, disappointed at himself for his actions.

"I-It's fine Hokage-sama, I understand that you were concerned about my genin and about mission protocol." Anko quickly replied, wiping the remaining tears from her eyes, a small smile back on her face.

The tense moment passing, Anko gave her report of what transpired over the course of the mission, from the demon brothers to Gato to the reason as to why Zabuza and Haku were here now; though she did leave out the battles that happened, knowing that Naruto wouldn't appreciate it.

"So Zabuza-san, Haku-san. You want to join Konoha? I'm sorry for being rude, but why?" Minato questioned the two, still skeptical that such a ninja would join out of the blue.

"Hokage-sama, I know that you don't trust me and will probably never fully be able to either. But I don't have any ulterior motives other then to be able to stop running. I've grown tired of running and I honestly just want a place that I can call home. And so I can spar with this blonde brat whenever I want." Zabuza said, telling Minato of his honest reasons for wanting to join, but the last part of his statement made Minato tilt his head in confusion.

"Huh? Do you mean spar with Naruto?" Minato asked, greatly confused at first, but then he became suspicious when Zabuza gained a confused look while Team 12 looked nervous.

"Is there something that you're not telling me?" He asked, or rather demanded, looking at his son.

Sighing, Anko gave her report once again, though this time she didn't leave out the parts about Naruto. To say Minato was shocked was an understatement, his eyes were wide and he wasn't able to believe any of the scenes that Anko described until Zabuza and the rest of the group vouched for him.

Regaining his composure and shelving the questions he had for his son for later, he questioned Zabuza and Haku once more about what they could offer the village. Of course Zabuza offered a wide repertoire of Suiton jutsu as well as his loyalty and services which Haku also offered. Haku also told Minato about her kekkei genkai, although reluctantly, which added to the pile of reasons that they should be allowed to join.

But Minato was shocked once again when Naruto also vouched for the two of them. Telling him that the two would be great assets a allies to have, saying that he would even take responsibility if anything were to happen that involved the two, going so far as to bow to him. Seeing his son risk his own reputation and pride, Minato couldn't disagree.

Finally, Minato agreed, seeing that the pros greatly outweighed the cons of letting the two join.

"Well now that that is all settled, I would like to personally welcome you to Konoha!" Minato said with a smile, as Zabuza grinned while Haku returned the smile.

"Why don't we get all the paperwork out of the way first though. Zabuza-san I assume that you will be using the same name right?" Minato asked, pulling out a series of forms as he questioned the younger man.'

"That's right Hokage-sama, I would like to keep my name if possible." Zabuza replied, as Minato smiled and jotted Zabuza's first and last name down.

"Now then, Haku-chan, what about your name?" He asked once more to a very quiet Haku, to the concern of the people present. As Minato was about to ask if she was alright, Zabuza stepped in.

"Hokage-sama, Haku will keep her first name but her last name will be Momochi." Zabuza said in a stern tone to the absolute shock of everyone present.

"Za-Zabuza-sama! Wha-What are you saying!" Haku frantically asked, though a part of her was hoping that he wasn't joking.

"You heard me Haku, your last name will be the same as mine." He said in a soft tone putting his hand on her head making her blush at the foreign show of affection.

"So I can assume that..." Minato started, a smile on his face knowing what Zabuza was implying.

"Yes you can Hokage-sama. I'll be adopting Haku as my daughter starting today!" He said in a proud tone as Haku's eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"Za-Zabuza-sama..." She said, her eyes never leaving him as he gained an irritated twitch of his eyebrow before he knocked her on the head gently.

"You idiot, didn't you hear what I just said! Don't call me Zabuza-sama anymore, just call me... Just call me... Call me Tou-san or something. Just not Zabuza-sama!" Zabuza said, turning his head away crossing his arms as a light dusting of pink colored his cheeks , Anko snickering at him.

"Oh wow, looks like the big bad 'Demon of the Hidden Mist' is a tsundere!" She jeered, to which Satsuki and Sasuke turned their heads away to stop their impending laughter as Zabuza gained a bit more pink from embarrassment, growling a little.

Unable to hold it in any longer, Haku latched onto Zabuza as tears started to fall down her face as a beautiful smile appeared.

"O-Of course Zabu- I mean To-Tou-san!" Haku exclaimed, the happiness in her heart surpassing anything that she's ever felt.

After things settled down and all the paperwork had been filed away, Minato told the two that they were going to be under suspension and supervision from an Anbu squad for an unknown period of time to which they accepted knowing that it was justified given their backgrounds.

"Now that everything is settled, where will the two of you be staying?" Minato asked, and immediately they froze.

The reason they joined Gato was that they would have gotten paid a large sum on money, having exhausted the last of their funds prior to being hired. In other words, they didn't have the funds to rent out a place to stay.

But the two didn't have to fear as Naruto stepped in and offered them a place in his apartment, to the shock of everyone present.

"They can stay with me Hokage-sama, my apartment has plenty of room and I'm not only any of it." Naruto said, knowing that he did indeed have the space to spare.

"Ar-Are you sure brat? I don't want to intrude or want you to feel obligated to give us a place to stay just because you brought us here you know." Zabuza said, not wanting to be a bigger burden on the person who just gave him a new lease on life.

"Zabu- i mean Tou-san is right Naruto-kun, we don't want to intrude." Haku said blushing slightly, though part of her did want to stay with the blonde who did so much for her and her father. Unknown to her, the two other girls behind her twitched when they heard the -kun part and saw her blush.

"It's no trouble at all you two, my apartment is a decent size; having two bathrooms and three bedrooms. I've taken the smallest of the three and the other two are just collecting dust." Naruto replied, once again winning the two over with his argument.

Minato wanted to object but knowing the inevitable outcome, he opted to keep quiet and smile, though he felt slight envy for the two that would be living with his son just like he used to.

After about an hour, everything was settled and Minato dismissed everyone except his son. Seeing as he was probably going to be questioned he gave Zabuza and Haku a spare key and told them where his apartment was, saying that he would see them later. After bidding farewells with everyone, he faced his father who had a longing look on his face.

Naruto remained quiet, as the atmosphere started to turn awkward, at least for Minato. The lull of the moment was finally broken when Minato asked why Naruto was suspecting him of since he was asked to stay behind.

"Naruto... Is it true?" Minato asked in a soft tone of voice.

"Is what true Hokage-sama?" Naruto replied, his eyes and voice back to their original states of navy and deadpan.

"The strength that your team, Zabuza-san and Haku-chan witnessed. Are you really that strong?"

"...Why do you need to know Hokage-sama, besides that fact that it would shed some light about myself." Naruto replied, obviously not pleased with the question.

"I need to know Naruto. So please, just answer me yes or no." Minato asked, his eyes pleading Naruto to answer him.

Finally Naruto relented, heaving out an annoyed sigh, he shook his head in the positive, making Minato widen his eyes.

"Then why Naruto... Why hide your strength?" Minato asked, unable to comprehend the reasoning behind his son's decision to put on the facade of being the dead last.

"Hide? Haha! I couldn't even use this place as a warm up! But the readints and stuff is pretty hard if you ask me though." Naruto replied, Minato giving him a small smile.

"Are you going to drop your facade in the village now?" He asked, hoping that his son would, knowing that it would get him more contact with the other ninja and villagers.

"I never had one of those, I'm just so damn bored here all the time." With that, Minato nodded knowing that he was probably driving his son's patience with him. Before he left the office, Minato said one more thing.

"I'm glad that you're not hurt Naruto... And welcome home." He said in a soft tone.

Pausing slightly at the door, Naruto replied before he left.

"Hurt? Yeah well thanks dude." Naruto replied before he closed the door softly.

_(Scene change - Naruto's Apartment)_

Arriving at his apartment, Zabuza and Haku were a little puzzled why he would live so far from the village center, but then they noticed that there were no other houses or complexes within at least one hundred meters and there was a training ground directly across road.

From the front, it looked like a fairly well kept building, there was no real damage or decay viable to the eye. A plain gray, it wasn't the most eye catching but it did look nice. Making their way up to the second floor, they noticed that it seemed like there weren't any other occupants of the building besides Naruto, the dust that had covered the top and bottoms of the doors a clear indicator that they haven't been opened in quite some time.

As they made their way to the end of the floor, they saw small gardening and planters boxes hanging on the handrail in front of the door of the apartment that belonged to Naruto. The two were surprised to see that the blonde had a rather serene hobby, seeing that he seemed like the type to not have any interest in such mundane things.

Making their way to the door, they opened it up and the gray from the outside disappeared and was replaced with a clean and calming white. The apartment was like he said, being rather spacious for only one person. Quickly scanning around the room as they entered, they noticed that it was spotless, not seeing anything that was out of place or dirty.

Taking their sandals off and placing them in the shoe storage that rested near the front door, they continued to explore their new place of residence. The living room had a black couch with pillows and black armchair overlooking a television, a black coffee table resting in the center of the room with white coasters on it. In the corner sat a black and white bookshelf filled with various kinds of literature: books, scrolls and magazines. Spread through the room were lamps that matched the walls with white shades covering them, another lamp hanging overhead above the table.

Making their way into the kitchen they saw that it had a countertop that overlooked the living room, giving whoever was in the kitchen a clear view of what went on in the living room. Entering it, they saw that it was relatively simple. A black marble countertop, a sink and disposal unit, a stove and oven unit, a refrigerator, a microwave, a coffeemaker, a dish washer, a garbage can. The cabinet under the sink contained cleaning supplies such as extra dish soap and paper towels. The cabinets above the countertop contained various ingredients in one and snacks or instant meals like ramen in the other. It was pretty standard for what it contained, though it had a window in front of the sink that had a beautiful view of the village another gardening box hanging in front of it filled with various herbs for cooking such a thyme and rosemary.

Leaving the kitchen, they entered the hallway and saw that there were six rooms lining either side of it and one in the back, three on the left side and three on the right. Walking to the three on the right, they discovered that the first door was a storage closet containing extra shampoo, conditioner, detergent, and various other cleaning products. The two after were the bathrooms, which were again very standard; a sink, cabinet, towel rack, and shower being what stocked it though the bathroom of the far right had a tub as well as being slightly larger.

The rooms on the right were the bedrooms, The rooms furthest to the back of the hallway were empty, having a simple set up of a bed, closet, dresser and drawer. The first one closeted to the entrance of the hallway belonged to Naruto. They were nervous at first but then the opened the door to his room.

His room was very plain, the set up from the other rooms being present though they did see that it was smaller then the other two rooms. There were no posters on the wall, nothing that really differentiated it from the other rooms other then a small bookshelf and laundry hamper that sat near the closet.

Closing the door, they made their way to the final door at the end of the hallway and saw that it was a washer and dryer.

Whistling slightly, Zabuza couldn't help but admire his new place of residence, after deciding which room would be his, he eventually took the room furthest from the hallway after coaxing from Haku. Setting his Executioner's Blade against the wall, he pulled out a storage scroll that contained his belonging and started sorting out and organizing his new room. After he finished sorting his belonging, he grabbed his worn clothes and took them to start washing them.

In contrast to her father, Haku plopped onto her bed and savored the soft feeling of the mattress, her smiling from having a home never leaving her face. Spending a few minutes like this, she eventually got up and began organizing her room as well, but hearing her father begin washing his clothes, she opted to take a shower first. Making her way to the bathroom, she greeted her father with a smile which he returned before going back to his laundry. Entering the bathroom, she opened up the cabinet and pulled out a towel before enjoying her first bath after a few months of having to bathe in rivers and lakes; practically melting when the warm embrace of the water took hold of her. After washing herself, Haku soaked in the tub for nearly half an hour before she got out.

_(Time skip - 1 hour later)_

After the two had finished what they were doing, Zabuza taking a shower and Haku doing her own laundry, they made their way to the living room to hear the door open and see a familiar head of blonde hair carrying a bag of groceries.

"Ah, Naruto-kun! Welcome home! Err, or excuse the intrusion!" Haku happily greeted but soon meekly apologized, rather ashamed and embarrassed that she acted like this was already her home while Zabuza laughed behind her.

"Hey there brat, that meeting took longer then I expected. Anything serious come up?" Zabuza asked, slightly concerned that the blonde got in trouble for sticking his neck out for them.

"Hello Zabuza-san, Haku-san. No, there was no trouble, Hokage-sama just wanted to discuss a few things with me there is nothing the two of you need to worry about." He replied, taking off his sandals and slipping them into the storage box next to Haku's.

"Well that's good. And again, I have to say thanks brat. You really stuck your neck out for us." Zabuza said, and he and Haku bowed slightly, though they were told to quickly stop bowing.

"You two don't need to bow to me, I only did what I thought was right." Naruto said, making his way towards the kitchen to start on dinner.

"Well now that we'll be living together, why don't we do our best to get along!" Haku chirped happily as Zabuza smiled, seeing his daughter radiate happiness that he's never seen since he picked her up all those years ago.

"I agree, but I'll tell you something right now Naruto." Zabuza said in a serious tone, earning the attention of both Naruto and Haku.

"What is it Zabuza-san?" Naruto said, nodding his head at the serious tone that the man had. As Haku grew nervous, not knowing what was going on.

"If you even think about peeping on Haku, I'll destroy you." He said, his face scary serious.

After saying that, an out of place wind blew, as the two other occupants of the room gained confused looks. That is until Haku turned bright red at what her father was saying.

"TO-TOU-SAN! WHAT ARE YOU SAYING!?" She shouted, not believing that he would say something like that so bluntly. But he wasn't paying attention to her as he folded his arms and stared directly into Naruto's eyes.

"We both know that my Haku is a very beautiful girl, probably the most beautiful girl. Don't think that just because you gave us a new life and a place to stay that you have free reign to make her yours, it'll be a cold day in hell before I give you permission to date my daughter brat!" Zabuza said with a fatherly fierceness that was like no other, causing Haku to blush even deeper from embarrassment.

"TOU-SAN!" She screamed, hitting him on the head as she flailed her arms, not believing that he could embarrass her like this in front of their new roommate while he continued saying that she was way too young to be thinking about dating and kissing, to which she screamed even more out of indignation before she covered her face and ran to her room, Zabuza panicking and confused, running behind her to figure out why she acted like she did.

Hearing Zabuza pound on the door, asking or rather begging Haku to let him in while told him to go away, Naruto simply turned to the countertop and started preparing dinner, a small smile appearing on his face from the antics of his new roommates.

"_I already have a pain though.._."


	9. Chapter 8

Night quickly fell after Team 12 with Zabuza and Haku returned to Konoha. After the incident earlier involving Zabuza and Haku, the two were sitting with Naruto in the living having dinner while they watched the news, discussing various things such as Naruto's connection to the Hokage.

After the two learned that Naruto was his son, they questioned him as to why he wasn't staying with family and instead living alone. They got their answer when Naruto told them that he didn't want much to do with that family anymore, saying that it was somethung that bothered him but he just felt uneasy around them. Perhaps he was going crazy? The two respecting his privacy, and turning the topic over to what was going to happen in the future.

_(Scene change - Uzumaki-Namikaze estate__)_

After he finished the workload for the day, Minato returned home, strangely lethargic in contrast to his almost tireless normal self. When he returned, we was greeted by the smiling faces of his children and the trademark eye smile of his student, Kakashi.

Taking off his sandals, he was tackled by the red rocket that was his wife, who fussed over him and immediately questioned him as to why he seemed to much more tired then usual, getting curious looks from their children and a concerned one from Kakashi.

"Mina-kun, what's wrong? Did something happen today? Are you feeling alright?" Kushina asked her husband, checking him for any signs of damage or fatigue.

"Tou-san, here sit down. I'll go get you some tea." Mito said, taking her father's hand and leading him to the armchair nearby as she went to fetch a cup of tea.

"Minato-sensei, what's troubling you? I've never seen you like this before. Did something happen today during in the tower to cause you trouble? If so I can personally go and take care of it." Kakashi said, slightly angry that someone might have done something to cause his sensei trouble.

"Tou-san, you can tell us right?" Narumi asked, her eyes looking worriedly at her father.

"Yeah Tou-san, just tell me and I'll go take of them with Kakashi-nii!" Menma declared, getting a head nod from Kakashi.

Returning with a cup of tea, Mito handed it to her father as her family gathered around him to see what was the reason behind his odd behavior. Once they saw him drink his tea then release a sigh, they leaned in.

"Team 12 came back from their mission." Minato said, as looks of confusion quickly plastered the faces of his family and Kakashi. Seeing that they most likely forgotten, he rephrased his previous statement.

"Naruto's team came back from their mission." Once those words left his mouth, he was immediately pounced upon by Kushina, who demanded to know what happened.

"What!? He came back!? Just today!?" Kushina shouted, shaking her husband by the collar of his flak jacket. Eventually, she was pried off by her daughters who also looked like they were going to do the same thing to their father.

"Ye-Yes Kushina. I didn't think that it would take the long to finish a C-Rank mission either but..." Minato trailed off, getting nervous looks from Kushina and his daughters.

"But what tou-san?" Narumi asked, gravely worried that something might have happened to her beloved brother.

"That C-Rank mission turned into an A-Rank." That bombshell caused everyone in the room to freeze as their eyes widened.

"Wh-What did you say sensei...?" Kakashi asked, not believing what he heard was correct. He knew that Anko was gunning to get done with D-Rank missions so that her genin could get more experience, but this. He didn't believe it.

"I'm not joking. They encountered the 'Demon Brothers' as well as Zabuza Momochi, a former member of the 'Seven Ninja Swordsman of the Mist' within the first few hours of departing." At that Kushina couldn't hold herself back any longer, she demanded to know what happened during the mission, what Minato told them, they couldn't believe.

"H-He's li-living wi-with hi-him...?" Kushina managed to stutter out, her eyes wide with fear. Minato had told them that Naruto, her Naruto, fought Zabuza to a standstill and then took on an army of hired ninja and mercenaries and won. Then he told them about what happened earlier today, about Zabuza and Haku joining the village and staying with Naruto.

"Mi-Minato! Ho-How could you let something like that happen!? Yo-You let that monster stay with our baby, without anyone to protect him!" She nearly screamed, her eyes never losing the terrified look that were held in them.

Though Minato managed to calm her down by telling her about the way that Naruto had insisted that they stay with him, to her horror, and the closeness that they seemed to have. As he described the interactions between two, Kushina could see the envy clear on his face when he told her that they seemed like very close friends.

After he finished his tale, Kushina, Mina and Narumi felt envy flood their hearts when they heard that Naruto had practically a new family. However, Narumi and Mito's envy ran much deeper then what Kushina felt. While their mother felt envy that Naruto was living with other people, which they too felt envious about, more of their envy stemmed from the fact that there was a girl their age living with their beloved brother and that thought made a lump of cold ice form in the pits of their stomachs as the fear that she would snatch their older brother for her own made the two extremely nervous and worried.

While the his sisters felt envy, Menma was still in disbelief, unable to wrap his head around the fact that the weak older brother he had always known did something like that, surviving and completing an A-Rank mission not even two months into his career as a ninja. It should've been him who went on the mission, beat Zabuza, fought an army, and saved a nation not him. It infuriated him to no end, his hands clenched into tight fists. He was definitely a much more capable shinobi then him, and yet he was still stuck here doing chores.

Soon the night was filled with the clamoring of Kushina and her daughters as they planned to go and save their son and brother, but they were quickly told not to by Minato who said it wouldn't go well with Naruto. Though reluctant at first, they eventually gave in, not wanting their son and brother to hate them even more then he did now.

The house settled into an eerie calm as the members of the household went back to what they were doing, Kushina and Mito quietly making dinner, Narumi setting the table, Menma watching TV, Kakashi reading his book and Minato showering. Though the energy that they had from earlier had disappeared.

_(Time skip - 1 week later)_

A week had passed since Team 12 returned to Konoha and the reveal of Zabuza and Haku's new status as citizens of Konoha. At first, as was expected, a majority of the village avoided the two outsiders given the reputation that they had built up; but now they were beginning to be accepted in some parts of the village, namely the section of the village that catered to ninja.

After four days of observation by the Anbu, a mental and physical check-up Minato deemed that the two were fit to be ninja under the service of Konoha. They were surprised by the relatively quick decision, expecting to be under surveillance for at least two weeks and when they asked why he gave them the trust reserved only for trusted ninja Minato simply said that if his son trusted them then he would as well, which they happily accepted thanking Naruto once again.

Once they were given their headbands, Minato had them evaluated by his top jōnin to see where they stood as ninja; though it was mostly to gauge Haku as he knew that Zabuza was at least jōnin level if not Anbu. After they finished their evaluation, Minato happily gave Zabuza the rank of jōnin and Haku the rank of chūnin, the two grateful for their positions.

While they were happy that they gained the trust of their new Kage, they were more happy that they could actually help Naruto with paying rent and paying for supplies even if he insisted that they didn't have to, they wanted to which forced his hand as he relented after they told him of their new positions. Once that was settled, they began their lives as ninja of Konoha.

For Zabuza, he was pretty much avoided by nearly everyone the only ones he ever being seen with were Naruto and his daughter. But that changed one day when Anko invited him to meet with a few of her friends which he reluctantly agreed, after some pressuring from his daughter.

_(Flashback - 2 days ago)_

An hour before he was going to meet up with Anko and her friends, Zabuza was laying face down on the couch, not looking forward to spending the day with a bunch of chummy leaf ninja while he's the third wheel, just awkwardly being there.

He was dressed in a black sleeveless shirt and matching pants, black and white stripped arm-warmers that went to his elbows and leg-warmers that connected to his sandals that went to his knees, his regular pair of black sandals, his headband was made with a long black cloth and was tied sideways like his old one, the bandages normally worn around his mouth undone and just wrapped around his neck, he topped off his outfit off with the green flak jacket of a Konoha ninja.

As he was moping, he didn't notice Haku until he heard her clear her throat.

Lifting his head and looking at his daughter, Haku winced seeing the empty look in her father's normally cool and calm eyes. From his expression alone, she knew that he wasn't looking forward to what was going to happen in the next few hours. Kneeling down in front of him and the couch, Haku put her hands on his cheeks as she stared into his eyes, her own filled with sadness.

"Tou-san, please don't look like that. I don't like it when you're not the strong person that I know and love. I'll contact Anko-san and cancel the meeting so please don't be like that anymore okay?" Haku said, her sad eyes ever leaving her father's now bewildered ones.

Seeing and hearing the heart wrenching eyes and voice of his daughter, Zabuza immediately snapped himself out of his pitiful state. Putting his hand on top of her head, he gave her a small smile before he sat back up before speaking to her.

"Sorry about that Haku, I was being pathetic. You're old man isn't going to stand down that easily right!" Zabuza said, the empty look in his eyes replaced with the calm flames of determination.

Seeing her father snap out of his depressive state, Haku beamed him a happy smile as he returned it, ruffling her hair gently. Once the moment was over, and they were back to their normal selves, they went to sit at the kitchen countertop as they happily talked about what was happening with the other around the village, stopping once the deadline had appeared.

"Well... I'm off then Haku, wish me luck." Zabuza said after heaving out a sigh as his daughter cheered him on, her words of encouragement sparking the fatherly flame inside of him alive, making him stand up straighter and gain an unshakable aura of confidence; Haku's eyes sparkled at the sight of her father looking so cool and confident. After composing himself, Zabuza walked through the door his head held high.

"Go get them Tou-san!" Haku cheered pumping her fist in the air, as he turned around and gave her a smile before heading to the small teashop that was the meeting place.

_(Scene change - Ensou Teahouse)_

In the bustling yet calm shop, Anko sitting with her group of friends that she's had since her academy days. Sitting around a large table in a private room in a separate wing of the shop that they reserved she was seated with: Shizune, Kurenai, Yugao, Tsubaki, Kagura, Genma, Hayate, Asuma, Kotetsu, Izumo, and Aoba.

Joking loudly and laughing, the men were talking about things that were somewhat distasteful in the opinion of the ladies present; mostly about women and a certain orange colored book.

"Come'on Hayate! Don't be such a stiff! You gotta at least give it a read once!" Kotetsu said, patting the now pink cheeked man on the back.

"You know you want you, you're not the first 'Pure' that hasn't read Jiraiya-sama's book and you won't be the last. So take your first steps into manhood!" Izumo added, also patting his shoulder.

Watching the other men start to put pressure onherHayate, Yugao decided to remind them about the only one was allowed to do that.

"Hayate-kun, you know what will happen if I find you reading that trash right?" She said in a syrupy sweet voice that send shivers down the spines of the men, the man in question especially.

"Yu-Yugao-chan! You know I don't have any interest in reading those books!" Hayate fiercely denied before he started coughing heavily, his lover and friends quickly checking to see if he was alright.

"I-I'm fine everyone, thank you for your concern. Tsunade-sama still hasn't found a cure but she has lessened the pain greatly." Hayate said with a smile, trying to reassure the group that his condition was better then it was in the past.

Soon, the group fell back into a happy atmosphere, the serious moment melted away as soon as Yugao started feeding Hayate, much to his embarrassment, prompting the women to coo at the two while the men looked away, tears falling from their eyes at their own hopelessness in the battle for love.

But the light and happy atmosphere ended when a staff member told them that there was a man in the front who said that he was to meet with them, turning their heads to Anko they saw that she had a sheepish grin on her face, telling them that she had invited Zabuza to meet and hang out with them. Ignoring the shocked looks on the faces of her friends, Anko told the staff member to let in him.

When he got to the teashop, he was surprised to say the least, it was busier then he expected and it even served sake judging from the smell of it that wafted around. Sighing to himself, he took a step inside and was immediately greeted with tense and nervous stares, which he notice but ignored not concerned with any of them.

Looking around he didn't see a sign of the purple haired woman that had invited him to come, so he figured that he was early much to his distain. Letting out another sigh, he made his way to the counter only to bump into someone, causing them to spill their tea on him.

Kaori Youjou wasn't having the greatest day, she had taken care of multiple genin who had the displeasure of catching Tora, the cat of the Fire Daimyō's wife, who turned them into scratching posts. But above that, she just turned 28 and still had nothing to really show for it. While all her friends had boyfriends and a few were even engaged, she was still living the single life.

She was so immersed in her own sulking that she never noticed the man in front of her until she bumped into him, spilling her tea on him.

"Guh!" Zabuza cried out, his forearm being scaled slightly from the hot tea that was spilt on him.

"Ahh! Oh my, I'm so sorry!" Kaori called out, quickly wiping the spilt tea off with a towel that a staff member handed to her.

After the whole incident was over, the staff bringing a first aid kit for the man, Kaori got a better look at him. Once she did, she froze. The man that she spilt tea on was Zabuza Momochi, 'The Demon of the Hidden Mist'. Unable to form a coherent sentence, she just stuttered when he locked gazes with her.

"Uhh... You alright?" Zabuza said, sweat dropping at the terrified woman in front of him. While she continued to stutter he noticed that she had scalded herself a little bit on her hand, reaching out he grabbed her wrist as she stopped stuttering and froze.

_"What do I do!? WHAT DO I DO!? HE'S GOING TO KILL ME!"_ Kaori screamed in her head, she had just spilt hot tea on a person who was a master of 'Silent Killing'. She knew that she was dead, the other customers and staff members could only watch in silence, expecting the worst. However their imaginations of a bloody murder vanished when Zabuza turned her hand over and started applying some ointment to help with her burn.

"Wh-What?" Kaori could only ask, dumbfounded by what just happened. He didn't rip her hand off or threaten to kill her, he actually put burn ointment on her instead.

"There, that should do it. You should be alright now, I didn't notice any other places that got scalded." Zabuza said finishing tending to the woman.

Silence. The once bustling and lively shop immediately stopped, everyone trying to process what just happened. The former Kiri-nin and missing-nin, the 'Demon of the Hidden Mist' Zabuza Momochi, just tended to a beautiful lady that had just spilt tea hot tea on him like it was nothing.

Snapping out of her stupor, Kaori could only look at him, never noticing that there was a slight fluttery feeling in her chest when he looked at her with a little bit of concern in his eyes.

"Uhh, did I grab your wrist too hard? Sorry about that, I'm not really used to the whole taking care of people thing." He said, clearly embarrassed from the way everyone was gawking at him. Finally, Kaori managed to find her voice after a few seconds of awkwardness.

"U-Uh N-No, N-Not at all! I-I'm just a little surprised is all. Yo-You're a lot more different then what the rumors say you are." Kaori said, a little bit of pink invading her cheeks.

After hearing her say that, Zabuza could only laugh. The act causing some people to drop their tea. It wasn't a bloodthirsty laugh but a humorous one, that was also quite charming as some of the women were blushing slightly after hearing it.

"Don't worry about it, I get that a lot nowadays." Zabuza said, brushing off the comment. Offering her his hand, he helped her up then kneeled back down to pick up the broken pieces of the cup, putting them into the towel from earlier. Finishing cleaning up the small spill, he handed the towel and shards to a waitress who flushed a little when he gave her an easy-going smile before taking it into the kitchen.

Finished with the incident, Zabuza bid farewell to Kaori before making his way to the counter and ordering himself a cup of tea.

Kaori could only stare at his retreating back before she smiled and headed back to her shift at the hospital, the man known as Zabuza Momochi never leaving her mind for the rest of the day.

Getting his tea from the same waitress from earlier, he blew on it slightly before taking a sip and smiling slightly.

"It's good." Was all he said before indulging himself more with the tea that he ordered, the waitress blushing again before she quickly excused herself.

Finishing his tea, he put his cup down before asking the manager if Anko was present in the shop to which he said yes but questioned him as to what his business was with them. Once he told the man that she had invited him to tea he nodded before asking him to follow as he lead him to a separate wing of the shop.

Once they reached a door that that laughs could be heard behind, Zabuza winced knowing that once they saw him it'd instantly turn as quiet as a graveyard. His premonition was correct when it did instantly turn as quiet as a graveyard.

"Uhh... Yo?" Zabuza said lamely raising his hand up to greet the group in an attempt to break the ice and lighten the mood, which failed to do either as they didn't respond, that is until Anko did.

"Hey! About time you got here! I thought you chickened out!" Anko said, obviously trying to rile up Zabuza which worked.

"Oi! You calling me chicken!?" Zabuza retorted his brow twitching, but realizing what he did he quickly composed himself as Anko gestured him to sit beside her.

The light atmosphere from before didn't return as the other members of the group just stared at Zabuza for a few minutes before quietly conversing with each other, ignoring the fact that Zabuza had just joined them. He sighed as he knew this would happen. After 15 minutes of being ignored, he finally had enough of the situation as he stood up to excuse himself but was immediately stopped when Anko grabbed his wrist.

Anko couldn't believe what she was seeing, even after he got approval from the Hokage himself, they still didn't trust him. She knew that at first that would have been acceptable but it had been days since he was accepted into their ranks, they should trust a person that their Kage trusted.

"Are you guys idiots!" She suddenly shouted, stunning the other occupants of the room.

"I get that you guys don't trust him or like him but to just flat out ignore him? That's not something that I expected you guys to do, I expected a few minutes of awkward silence followed by someone offering him something to drink then starting a conversation! Not for you idiots to just pretend like he isn't here!" Anko said, making the eyes of her friends widen not believing that they were being lectured by her of all people. She was about to continue, but was stopped when Zabuza pulled his wrist free from her grip.

"Oi Mitarashi, don't make em' do something they don't want to do. They don't trust me, and I'm fine with that. I got other people who trust me including Hokage-sama, Haku, and Naruto; having other people not trust me isn't something I really care about." He said, making his way to the door as the others looked at him, their eyes wide. Stopping at the door he addressed them once more before leaving.

"Like I said, I'm fine with you not trusting me. My daughter told me that I should try and find people that I could trust with my back but figures that that ain't happening huh. Well whatever, but just to reassure you right now, if we work together I've got your back covered whether you want me to or not. I owe Naruto that much for sticking his neck out for me when Hokage-sama questioned my loyalty, I owe Haku that much for sticking with me for as long as she did and always worrying for my sake, and I owe Hokage-sama that much for accepting me and my daughter into this village and allowing us to become ninja. Thanks for the invite Mitarashi, I'll see you around." With that Zabuza left, closing the door softly behind him.

Once the door closed, silence prevailed over the room, everyone digesting the words that Zabuza had left them. After a few moments Anko stood up her eyes foreshadowed by her hair.

"You guys... I... I just can't believe you." Anko whispered, before she made her way to the door.

"A-Anko-chan where are you going?!" Kurenai asked, still not believing that her normally exuberant best friend was actually upset to this extent.

"I'm going to find Zabuza and apologize for what happened." She said as she exited the room, leaving everyone else who looked down at the table.

"...She's really upset... Anko's really upset..." Kurenai said, still in disbelief at the fact that her best friend got upset over what happened.

"We... Were we wrong...?" Tsubaki said, questioning if their choice of action was the right one.

"I don't know Tsubaki, I don't feel like I can trust him... You know that he killed all of the graduating of his academy without him even being a ninja in the first place. Do you think you can trust someone who did something like that?" Asuma said, taking a long gulp of sake.

The rest of the group remained quiet, not having any other words to say as the happy and light atmosphere from earlier destroyed, in its place a heavy and solemn one.

_(Scene change - A few blocks from Ensou Teahouse)_

After he left the room, he bid farewell to the manager and staff members of the teahouse, smiling at them which stunned them, but they quickly recovered and returned the gesture.

The waitress from before introduced herself as Okyō Kyoushou and asked if he was going to return, giving him a coupon for half-off tea and a meal which Zabuza gratefully accepted, telling her that he would return some other time.

As he rounded the corner, intent on grabbing something light to eat he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. Making a fist, he was about to smash his elbow into the person when he stopped himself, knowing that he'd probably be the one to be arrested. Those thoughts left when he turned around and saw a familiar head of purple hair.

"What're you doing here Mitarashi? Shouldn't you still be with your friends?" He asked, confused as to why she left her friends to stop him but then a thought came to his head as he gave her a smirk.

"Don't tell me you were worried about me?" He said with an amused tone, his eyes also shining with an amused glint.

Hearing him say that, Anko immediately turned red, with both embarrassment and anger.

"Sh-Shut up you idiot! I-It's not like I was worried about you or anything moron! It's just that no one should have had what happened back there happen to them, even an idiot like you!" She said, the redness never leaving her face. The opposite happened when Zabuza started laughing hysterically, clutching at his sides in order to ease the pain that he felt.

"HAHA! O-OH KAMI THAT'S RICH! TH-THAT WAS SUCH A TSUNDERE LINE IT'S NOT EVEN FUNNY!" He laughed, tears began flowing from his eyes, not believing that the 'Snake Mistress of Konoha' was a tsundere.

"O-OH KAMI! MY SIDES! MY SIDES, THEY BURN!" He cried out, now on his knees one hand on the ground supporting him the other wrapped around his stomach trying to ease the pain, tears still falling as he continued to laugh.

"..." Anko's face was crimson now, her cheeks puffed into an angry pout. Finally having had enough of seeing Zabuza make fun of her she launched herself at him, getting him into a headlock.

"JUST DIE ALREADY!" She screamed, as he just started laughing harder at her futile attempt to make him submit.

The antics of the two eventually drew a large crowd, at first they were terrified at the scene but then they started smiling and laughing themselves. After some time even the group of Anbu who came to check out the disturbance couldn't help but smirk and contain the laughter the welled up inside of them, never seeing imagining seeing Anko and the 'Demon of the Hidden Mist' act like two lovers.

Eventually, the two calmed down Zabuza sitting with his legs outstretched wiping the remaining tears away while Anko still had him in a headlock. Finally collecting himself, he turned his head towards Anko, who still was red in the face, as she snarled at him. But she wasn't prepared when Zabuza closed his eyes and gave her a wide smile, making her eyes go wide and her heart flutter.

"Thanks Mitarashi, that really cheered me up!" He said as he pulled Anko's arms off his neck as he stood up, helping her up as well. Still slightly stunned, she was broken out of her state when she heard applause explode around her.

"You go girl! Great job cheering your boyfriend up!"

"Kyah! You two are so cute, it must be great to be young and in love!"

"She's a tsundere?! She's a keeper brother!"

"That line was perfect! She's the one! Don't ever let her go!"

Immediately the two froze when the crowd started cheering them on, shouting about how they were a couple and about how in love they were.

Hearing what they were saying about them, the two immediately turned crimson before they took off, leaving a cheering crowd and amused Anbu squad behind.

_(Scene change - A few blocks from the 'Incident')_

After their escape, Zabuza and Anko found themselves in the other food district, however both of them were still embarrassed from earlier. The awkward silence that prevailed was broken when both of their stomachs growled. They both looked at each other before they started laughing.

"Haha, want to grab something to eat Momochi?" Anko said, a smile appearing on her face.

"Sure why not Mi-TSUN-rashi!" Zabuza said in an amused tone, barely able to contain the laughter that returned as Anko turned red once more, her eye twitching.

But soon the two laughed once more and entered a small yakitori stand where they learned more about each other. Anko learning that Zabuza loved spicy food and fresh fish, disliked sweets and hated fresh vegetables. Zabuza learning that Anko loved sweet bean soup, dango and practically anything sweet, disliked fish, and hated spicy food.

As they happily chatted with one another, they never noticed the knowing looks that the other patrons and cook gave them. After a while they were soon joined by Ibiki who got instantly along great with Zabuza, forging a 'bond of manliness' as they called it, that made Anko laugh. The three enjoyed each other's company until the shop closed, agreeing with the others that it would be their new spot to hang out.

_(Flash back - End)_

After that, Zabuza became close friends with Anko and Ibiki who introduced him to Inoichi, Tonbo, Shimon, and the other members of the TI Division who at first were cautious of him but quickly turned around when Ibiki told them that he was a great guy.

Due to the events that happened that day, many mistook or rather assumed that Zabuza and Anko were a couple, which infuriated and embarrassed the two to no end. Haku especially was affected by the rumors.

Zabuza had seen the most terrifying expression he had ever witnessed when she told him that no woman was allowed to have her father unless she accepted them first, wearing a yandere-like smile as she unconsciously pulled out a handful of senbon making him shiver in fear.

As for Haku, at first she was also treated similar to how Zabuza was treated, but once she started to get to know the villagers who she bought groceries from, her reputation as a beautiful and kind girl quickly spread though the village, earning her a fan club much to her chagrin. Luckily for her, Zabuza scared off any boy who even stared in her direction, his oni-like aura springing out whenever he caught some boy staring at his daughter.

Zabuza returned to that teashop much to the joy of the staff there, having grown to like the intimidating yet deceptively kind man. Okyō even had asked him if he was single, which he told her yes, making her eyes sparkle before she skipped off in a happier mood then before much to his confusion. Eventually he started doing missions with various people as well as being solo, making him a happier man as he was allowed the freedom that he once had unlimited access to once more.

Haku eventually was accepted to the Medical Corps. and immediately became a vital member her knowledge of the human body and numerous herbs making her a valuable member. Adding to that was her kind nature, making all the patients that were admitted feel welcomed and safe. That is until a young man tried hitting on her resulting in him being temporarily paralyzed from the neck down while she wore her smile in an ominous way, that was where the unspoken rule of never hitting on her was created.

For the two, life definitely was much more enjoyable then it was in the past, the two smiling much more and laughing much more then they ever had before.

_(Time skip - 2 weeks later)_

As time flew by, things mostly remained the same. Zabuza was apologized to by the same group of people that Anko had tried to introduce to him, which he brushed off saying that they were only doing what ninja did. Haku's fan club grew in size, and in turn Zabuza's over protectiveness grew as well; though Zabuza's popularity with some of the female population also triggered Haku's over protectiveness as she would smile chillingly at any woman caught staring and blushing at her father.

For Team 12, not much had changed. Minato had ordered that they not be allowed to go on any missions for at least 2 weeks which they accepted opting to train more. Anko told them that there would be no team training but would be a meeting a week until the chūnin exams and to take it easy, telling them that she would help them train if they asked for it.

Satsuki trained with Anko and Kushina on her taijutsu, ninjutsu and genjutsu. Kushina was shocked when Satsuki came back a much stronger girl then she was before, showing strength that she never had imagined would come from the once frail girl.

Pride swelled in the hearts of both women when they saw the growth that their student was showing, the frail girl of the past replaced with a strong young lady who strived to be stronger then the both of them.

Sasuke trained with his mother, father and older brother in controlling and using his sharingan, which once they found out about they promptly celebrated. At first he was confident that he was able to control it without trouble, but was proven wrong when he nearly fainted from draining so much charka.

As for Naruto, since he wasn't allowed on missions he never went into the village, as Haku offered to do the shopping, which helped him avoid all contact with his family. Instead he trained following Niko's instructions as well as sparring with Zabuza, much to the older man's pleasure.

Zabuza sparred with him once a week and every time they sparred, he was blow away by the growth that Naruto displayed not believing that anyone could grow so much in such little time. He also found out that using taijutsu wasn't the only thing that Naruto excelled at using, stunning him once he saw the extensive range of sealing that the boy could do.

However, they were blown away with what Anko had to tell them at the team meeting that was scheduled for today.

_(Scene change - Team 12 Training ground)_

"Hey there brats! How have you all been!" Anko cheerfully said, getting smiles in response from her genin, even Naruto had a small smile. Seeing the smiling faces of them, Anko gave a grin in response.

"Well, these past 3 weeks have been pretty boring huh? Just training without doing any missions, but hey! I've got something important to tell you all." Once Anko said that, she straightened her back and stared at them with serious eyes. In response, they became serious as well their smiles thinning into lines as they returned her serious gaze.

"After all I've seen you do, even though you haven't even been genin for half a year, I've decided to ask you all if you want to enter the chūnin exams this year." Anko said, her gaze never losing the serious look in them.

"Wh-What did you say Anko-sensei?" Sasuke said, his eyes wide. Usually genin were supposed to have at least a year of experience before they were eligible to enter the exams, but their sensei was telling them that they could enter if they wanted?

"I said if you guys think you're ready and you're prepared to give it your all, I'll allow you to enter this year's chūnin exams." Anko repeated once more.

"Se-Sensei, I... I want to enter!" Satsuki said, her eyes burning with determination.

"I agree Anko-sensei, I want to enter as well!" Sasuke agreed, his eyes burning with the same determination as his sister.

The siblings were rearing to go but the lone one of the group remained silent, prompting his teammates to look at him for his answer.

"...Let's enter..." Was his answer, his eyes gaining a determined look as well.

Expecting their sensei to give them a grin and celebrate, they were shocked when her serious look remained.

"You all know that the chūnin exams are dangerous right? You're allowed to kill, maim, do anything to your opponent in order to win. I don't want you all to charge head first without knowing that you have the potential to die and for it to be allowed. Knowing that do you still want to enter?" Anko replied, her eyes never once losing the serious look in them.

Sasuke and Satsuki looked at their feet, mulling over their hasty decision. Their flames were dampened a bit but they were revived when Naruto spoke out his thoughts.

"Don't worry Anko-sensei, if we enter, I don't think there's anyone there who can match the Uchiha." He said, his eyes gaining an even more confident look in them making the others widen their eyes slightly.

"Even knowing that it's dangerous, as long as my team is there to back me up I know that we'll pass!" Satsuki said, standing up straight as she regained her determined look.

"With Satsuki and Naruto standing beside me, I know that we'll overcome anything that stands in our way!" Sasuke said with his eyes also gaining his determination back.

Seeing her genin have not just confidence in themselves but confidence in each other, Anko finally lost her serious look and in its place a proud smile shone brightly.

"That's the right answer you guys. Alone, I know that all of you could get far into the exams but together. Well, let's just say I feel sorry for the poor suckers that are going to cross paths with you." Anko said laughing lightly as her genin also laughed along.

After everything was settled, Anko handed her students the paperwork which they quickly filled out and returned to her. Bidding farewell to them, she quickly made her way to the Hokage's tower where Minato had called a meeting with all the sensei of the year's genin to see who was going to enter the exams this year.

_(Scene change - Hokage's tower)_

In the meeting room adjacent to his main office, Minato was seated in front of the jōnin in charge of this year's crop of genin. He knew that some of them who were going to enter their genin had the usual year amount of experience, but he also knew that some wanted to enter their genin and didn't have that usual requirement. For those teams, he wanted a very good explanation as to why they should be able to enter when they lacked the necessary experience.

As they were about to begin, the door opened up and Anko enter the room a little winded from her sprint to the tower. Sweat dropping at her tardiness, being even later then Kakashi much to his chagrin, she apologized before taking a place next to Kurenai.

"Now that everyone's here, let's begin shall we!" Minato said, not hiding his excitement at seeing who was going to enter and who was going to drop out.

After a few of the people he expected to enter, did, he nodded giving them his approval as they met the requirements. A few of the jōnin decided not to enter, feeling that their teams didn't meet the standards that the exam called for. But finally, he got to the jōnin of this year's group of genin.

"Minato-sensei, I want to enter Team 7 into this year's exams." Kakashi said, making Minato sigh as he knew that this would happen.

"I understand Kakashi, but could you give me a reasoning as to why I should enter them? Just because they're my children doesn't mean that they're ready you know." Said, knowing that his children probably pestered Kakashi endlessly for him to enter them.

"I understand Minato-sensei, but I honestly do believe that they are ready. All of them have Kage-level amounts of chakra, are already proficient in tai and ninjutsu, and have completed 31 D-Rank missions and 3 C-Rank missions. They're teamwork is rusty, but they have improved greatly. Not to mention that they're strong individually. Because of that they show the potential to become chūnin and pass the exam." Kakashi reported, a slightly condescending tone seeping into his voice as he eyed the other jōnin.

"Hmm... I'll trust your judgment on this Kakashi, I'll allow them to enter the exams but have you told them of the dangers of it yet?" At that question, Kakashi nervously shook his head in the negative making Minato sigh.

When he asked everyone else, they also repeated the act. But Minato and everyone else were surprised when Anko said that she told them and even knowing the dangers they agreed to enter. Snapping out of his stupor, Minato motioned the jōnin to continue their nominations.

"Hokage-sama, Team 8 is ready to enter. They specialize in hunting and tracking but even past that they show promise and potential to pass the exams. Shino and Kiba have some difficulties getting along and Hinata doesn't really talk to them, so their teamwork suffers as a result. But when pushed, they can become an efficient team and have shown that to me. They've completed 33 D-Rank missions and 2 C-Rank, while they lack experience they make up for it in determination." At her concise report Minato smiled and nodded, making Kurenai give Kakashi a smug smile making the latter's eye twitch.

"Alright, if you believe that they can come together then I'll allow them but do tell them about the dangers alright?" At that she nodded and Guy stepped forward.

"YOSH! Hokage-sama, my youthful genin are more then ready to let their youth shine this year in the exam!" Guy nearly shouted, making Minato laugh wryly.

"Yes, you're genin have been together for about a year and a half, so they do meet the requirements Guy. They're free to enter." Minato said getting a nice guy pose from Guy in response.

"Hokage-sama, Team 10 is ready. Though they really are slackers, they do have the potential as the next Ino-Shika-Cho, and I've seen it on a few occasions. They've still got a long way to go, I have to bride them in order for them to do anything really, but when push comes to shove, they do get things done. Shikamaru and Choji share a close bond though Ino hates working with them. But underneath all of that, they're more then capable of passing. They've finished 35 D-Rank missions and 2 C-Rank, so they've got some experience handling the harder stuff." Asuma reported, taking a breath after his report.

Minato nodded, but then agreed. He knew that they would have some trouble but from what he has seen in the reports, Shikamaru would be able to get them out of most situations given his intellect.

"Alright Asuma, I'll let them enter. Shikamaru-kun should be able to keep them safe given his intelligence and with them all working together they should be safe." Minato said smiling as Asuma gave him a grin in response.

"Alright Hokage-sama, I'm not going to lie here but I really don't think that Team 11 is ready for the exams, but I want them to enter to see how far behind they really are. They're the most unbalanced team that I've seen, it's almost unfathomable. Genjj has, if it's even possible, gotten even worse when it comes to interacting with his teammates. Sakura hasn't lost her fan girl attitude towards Genji and because of that she hasn't really become any stronger then before, if anything she's become a little but weaker not training in order to watch and cheer him on. Sai on the other hand still gives off the strange vibe from before, I don't know what's going on in his head and it's making me an Orochimaru-sama cautious. They've done 30 D-Rank missions and 1 C-Rank, but even after all of that, they've still not improved their teamwork." Genma reported, sighing heavily as some of the other jōnin gave him pitying looks.

"I understand Genma, while I would probably not allow them to enter they do need to know that working alone doesn't make you a powerful ninja. I'll allow them to enter on the condition that you tell them about the dangers about what happens. If even one of them backs out then they all aren't going to be able to enter." Minato said as Genma nodded in return.

Finally, everyone's attention was on Anko. After the incident that happened a few weeks ago, she had stopped treating them as loving and familiar as she used to. While she did smile and chat with them, it wasn't with the same amount of energy that she used to show them. Now they were curious about her response to the question at hand.

"Hokage-sama, I've told my team about the risks and dangers that the exams pose. Even after hearing them they still agreed as a team that they would enter. At first, Yakumo and Satsuki lost the determination that they had, but once Naruto said that he would protect them no matter what they regained it and it was much stronger then before as well. They've completed 41 D-Rank missions and 1 A-Rank mission, and even after all that they're still humble and not cocky at all. They're teamwork is out of this world and individually they're strong enough to take down chūnin level opponents. I know that they're ready for the exam, and that they'll pass it without any trouble at all." Anko reported, confidence and pride brimming from her person as everyone looked on in awe.

They have never seen Anko put such confidence in another person let alone three, the confidence and way that she spoke of her genin led no room for doubt. They would be entering and they would go far and Minato felt that as well.

"Alright Anko, I'll allow them to enter. If what you said is true, then I have no doubts that they will go far in this year's exam." Minato said, his voice held a little bit of pride after hearing what his son said to help is teammates regain their confidence.

After everything was settled and all the teams that were going to enter handed in their forms, Minato dismissed everyone.

As she was walking out, Anko was stopped by Kurenai who was with Asuma and Genma.

"Anko-chan, do you want to go grab a bite with us?" Kurenai asked, hopeful that she would agree to go with them. Behind, Genma and Asuma held the same hope that she did, but it was quickly gone once they heard her response.

"Nah, I'm fine thanks though Kurenai! I'm meeting Momochi and the guys, so I can't. Maybe next time though!" She said, as she made her way to her new usual meeting spot, as the three behind her looked on with sad eyes, Kurenai especially.

"Come'on, let's go Kurenai." Asuma said putting a hand on her shoulder as they left the tower.

_(Time skip - A few days later)_

The day had finally come, making his way to the building that the exams were held, Naruto heard the sounds of a dispute happening and quickly made his way over to investigate.

When he arrived, he saw a boy around his age dressing in a black bodysuit, wearing a black hood with pointed cat-ear like appendages that had a Suna headband attached to it, strange objected wrapped in bandages on his back, with purple paint on his face. He was holding a boy younger then the both of them by the scruff of his neck as two other kids watched on in horror and fear.

"Watch where you're going you little brat!" The teen shouted at the boy being held up started shaking.

"Oh, you gonna cry now? Tsk, who knew that there were such brats in this village. I'll really make you cry!" The teen said, cocking his fist back as the younger boy closed his eyes.

But before he could do anything, Naruto had appeared and gripped his wrist, hard.

"Guh! Wh-What the hell!?" The teen said, dropping the boy and focusing his attention on the blonde in front of him.

Before anyone could say anything, the young boy and the two other kids behind the older boys immediately brightened up.

"Menma-niichan!" They shouted, but it fell on deaf ears when the blonde that they thought was their honorary nii-chan ignored them.

"What's a Suna-nin doing picking on a little kid, if you want a fight pick on someone your own size you sorry waste of space." Naruto said in a chilling tone as he glared at the older boy, making the teen flinch before he glared back.

As things were about to heat up, a voice broke through the tense atmosphere that had been created.

"Konohamaru!" A series of voices called out, the group turning around and seeing Menma, Kiba and a few other boys running towards them, but next to them was a scowling Sasuke. After they had heard Konohamaru cry out, they immediately ran to the source, even Sasuke followed curious as to what was happening. But all three froze when they locked eyes with blank navy ones.

Silence, that was what prevailed over the area, it even affect the teen as a bead of sweat dropped down his head, the odds not in his favor. But that vanished once the blonde holding his wrist let go.

"I don't have time to waste with you. Get out of my sight." He said in the same tone as before. Before the teen could retort, the blonde cut him off.

"And you two, in the tree, I'm guessing that you're his teammates. You have better get out of my sight as well." At that the teen froze, his eyes widening as a teen with blonde hair tied into 4 pigtails holding a large metal fan came out and a boy with red hair and a gourd appeared in a swirl of sand.

"Ga-Gaara!" The teen stuttered out, making everyone focus attention on the red head, seemingly the cause of the teen's fear.

" Kankuro you're a disgrace to our village, if you do that again, I'll kill you." The red head said in a blood thirsty voice making everyone, minus Naruto, flinch. Turning to Naruto he addressed him.

"My apologies. I am Gaara of the Sand. What is your name?" He asked in a emotionless tone.

"Tokita." Was all that he got in response, making the red head crack a small maniacal smile.

"Tokita... Mother will enjoy it when I spill your blood." He said in a crazed tone before he started walking away with the two.

"I have no interest in any of you other then him." Gaara said, pointing at Naruto, anger seeping into the faces of the other boys. Soon they were out of sight leaving the Konoha ninja alone.

Before anyone could talk, Konohamaru instantly latched onto Menma crying about how scary the situation was as the older boy tried to calm him down. He was about to say something else but stopped when he saw his older brother start to leave.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going loser!" He shouted scaring the kids, know known as Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi.

However his anger only increased when his brother ignored him, prompting him to run up and grab his shoulder, forcibly turning him around.

"Don't think that you're some kind of hero just because you did something like that. People like you shouldn't get their hopes up." Menma growled out as he glared at his older brother, his group of friends soon joined him.

"Yeah dead last, don't get ahead of yourself. You're lucky that we got here or else you would've been put into the ground!" Kiba barked out, also glaring at the older blonde.

While things began to get tense, they got even more tense when Menma reached out to grab his older brother's collar but was stopped and later shocked at what happened next.

Naruto grabbed Menma's wrist and twisted it, making him wince in pain. But before he could do anything, he yanked his wrist to the side, making Menma lose his balance in turn Naruto forced him onto the ground his arm locked behind his back.

Shocked at what just happened, Kiba was about to engage the older blonde for attacking his best friend when a chilling voice made him freeze.

"If you don't want to lose conciseness then you'll stay there like a good dog." Naruto said, his voice sending shivers down the spines of everyone present. After, he applied more pressure onto Menma's arm making the younger blonde wince and grunt in pain.

"I've had just about enough of your attitude Menma. How long are you planning to keep this up? Until you're a chūnin? Jōnin? Anbu? Because if you keep acting like you're superior to everyone else, you're going to end up having your squad dead because of you." At that, Menma's eyes went wide.

"I know, you hate me, you detest me,despise me. But let me tell you a little secret Menma, I. Don't. Care." At those words Menma and the rest of the people watching could only gape, their mouths trying to form words but none coming out.

"You can hate me all you want, but in the end it'll get you nowhere. And let me tell you somethingotouto, if I ever catch wind that you caused trouble because of your attitude, I'll make sure that it never happens again. Do you understand?" When Menma didn't respond, Naruto tightened the lock on his arm making him cry out a little in pain.

"Do. You. Understand." Naruto said, his voice colder then ice. After that, Menma nodded his head submissively.

Letting of his arm, Naruto stood up and faced Kiba and the others who flinched and shrunk in fear when they saw his cold eyes.

"Let me tell you all something, especially you and your mutt Menma, the attitudes that you have nowwillget someone killed. I don't care how strong, smart, or brave you are; you will get someone killed if you keep acting that way. You had better fix that problem yourselves or I'll fix it for you." Finishing his lecture/threat, Naruto continued towards the exam center leaving behind a frightened group of shinobi.

Only to be joined by a Sasuke quickly zipping next to, via **Flash Step**.

"Hey, hey, looks like you've gotten better at that one."

"You have no idea."

_(Scene change - Chūnin exam building)_

Standing in front of the building that would become the place where their hopes for the promotion to chūnin were held, Team 12 stood together, their backs straight and their eyes filled with determination. Exchanging glances with each other, they nodded as they mentally agreed with each other, entering the building together with the same thought running though their minds.

"LET'S DO THIS!"


	10. Chapter 9

After they entered the building together, Team 12 immediately saw a blockade made up of other genin. Approaching the group, they saw two chūnin that were blocking a door, preventing anyone from getting in.

"Hey! What're you doing, please let us in!" Said a girl wearing a pink sleeveless qipao-style blouse and green pants, her hair done into two buns. But after she said that, one of the chūnin backhanded her lightly across the face.

"Tenten!" Said a boy with a bowl style hairstyle with bushy eyebrows wearing a green bodysuit with orange leg-warmers with bandages wrapped around his arm. As he helped his teammate up.

"Ha! Just look at how weak you are, if you can't take even that you have no chance in the exam!" One of the chūnin said as some of the genin around him looked nervous at the piece of information.

Looking at his teammates, Sasuke and Satsuki nodded, noticing that the door number was hidden under a genjutsu. The team made their way slowly around the group, now knowing that it was intentional to weed out those who were unable to detect a simple genjutsu, which made Sasuke sigh.

But as they were about to head up the stair, the saw a scuffle happen.

"Get out of the way!" Genji shouted at one of the chūnin.

After all the headache of having to work with his useless team to stop a kidnapper from taking Moegi, they were finally allowed to join the exams when the person they stopped was Iruka who was testing them to see if they were ready.

"Hey Dickless, Ugly, why don't we just make them?" Sai said, getting hit on the head from Sakura from using his nickname for her.

"Hmph, actually not a bad idea." Genji said as he rushed towards the chūnin in an attempt to take him down. But as he neared them, the same boy from earlier with the green bodysuit stopped him, to his shock.

But as he did, the girl from before hit him on the head.

"You idiot! Wasn't it your idea that we act like we're weak in the exam!?" Tenten shouted, annoyed at the hypocritical actions of her teammate.

"Ahh, I'm sorry Tenten! But I just couldn't help myself!" Lee said, apologizing profusely.

"I agree, it was idiotic to ruin the plan like that Lee." A boy with pale, pupil-less eyes said. He had long black hair and wore a khaki shirt and dark brown shorts. His right arm was wrapped in bandages as well as his right leg.

"Again, I'm sorry Neji. I just got caught up in the heat of the moment." Lee apologized to the boy now known as Neji.

But after he did he turned to Sakura who instantly got creeped out.

"My name is Rock Lee, and you must be Sakura. Sakura, please go out with me! I'll protect you with my life!" Lee said, flashing a blinding smile at her.

"No way, you're lame." Sakura said in a flat tone, as Lee looked defeated.

Turning to Genji, Neji called out to him.

"Hey you, what's your name?" He said in a slightly smug tone, which the young Shimada took notice of.

"Hmph, when you want to learn someone's name, you should tell them your own first." He replied, as he started walking away.

"You're a rookie aren't you, how long have you been a genin?" Neji asked once more, the smug look on his face grew small bit more.

"Tsk, I don't have to answer you." He replied, as he walked away Sai and Sakura following behind him.

"Damn... He looks strong... Who knew there were such monsters here." Genji though, cursing the fact that he still hasn't unlocked his shimada heritage.

"Ufufu, he's kind of cute." Tenten thought, giggling slightly while she looked at the retreating form of the Shimada.

But as they were about to leave, Lee told them that there was something that he wanted to check out.

Once all the genin left the area, the two chūnin from before released their Henge, in their places were Kotetsu and Izumo.

"Well, well, well looks like they passed the first obstacle didn't they!" Kotetsu said in a jovial tone as Izumo nodded.

"Things sure are going to be interesting aren't they?" Izumo questioned, which his partner nodded as they went back to report their findings.

Watching the other genin leave, Team 12 hadn't made their way up the stairs, opting to watch the strange boy known as Rock Lee follow Team 11. Sasuke looked at Satsuki, and she sighed knowing what was probably going to happen.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's make sure that he doesn't do something that he'll regret." She said as she led her team to where they had gone.

_(Scene change - Chūnin exam center: Open room)_

Team 11 found themselves in a spacious room as they headed towards the real examination hall. But as they were about to exit, they were stopped when a voice called out to them.

"Hey! You with the dark eyes!" Lee shouted, dropping down to their level surprising the group.

"...You talking about me?" Genji said, turning around and facing Lee.

"Yes, I want to fight you." Lee said, his eyes serious.

"My name is Rock Lee, it's commonplace to introduce yourself before someone tells you their name correct?" He said, as Genji smirked.

"So you know huh? My name is Genji Shimada, of the Uchiha clan. A fight right now you said?" Genji said, then questioned Lee to which the other nodded.

"I want to test my skills and techniques against someone from one of the genius clans of Konoha. And also..." Lee trailed off as he once again stared at Sakura then winked at her, much to her disgust.

"EWW! Those eyebrows! And that haircut!" She screamed, and later became hysterical when Lee started blowing kisses at her which she dodged with surprising skill.

After the round of love comedy was over, Genji addressed Lee once more, his eyes darkening.

"You knew about my family and still want to fight me? You must be even dumber then you look. You're about to learn what this name is all about." Genji said, as he got into his primary stance. As Lee put one arm behind his back and the other faced forward.

Watching up in the balcony, Satsuki could only sigh at her classmates arrogance. She admitted that she used to have the same mindset about believing that her family was the strongest out there but that changed after she made actual friends and her family, namely her older brother and mother, broke her out of that mindset.

Sasuke patted his sister on the shoulder as she knew what was probably going through her mind, but Naruto was watching and analyzing Lee's stance. He saw that it was most likely built on speed and power, though it didn't appear to lack the defense that would normally come with such a stance.

But before they were about to start, Sakura called out to Genji.

"Genji-kun! You can't we only have 30 minutes until the exam starts!"

As if on cue, Genji rushed forward.

"This will only take 5."

Once he said that, Lee acted meeting Genji on the way to his surprise. But he quickly snapped out of it, seeing Lee about to attack.

**"Konoha Senpū!"** He called out spinning his body as he delivered a high kick which Genji ducked to avoid, but was hit when Lee rotated once again delivering a low kick breaking Genji's guard sending him flying back.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cried out, not believing what she had just seen. Sai's eyes were also wide, not expecting such an attack from the strange boy.

With Team 12 Satsuki was astonished by the attack.

"What just happened?" Satsuki asked, trying to wrap her head around the attack.

"That's fast, really fast. Even though I could see and copy him, I wouldn't be able to match up with his speed unless I went all out and even then it would be close. " She said as she narrowed her eyes, now not surprised why her classmate got sent flying.

"That first kick... Once he throws that high kick, the evasion margin of his opponent is immediately restrained. Because of that, it augments the chances for that low kick to hit its mark. So that high kick is pretty much nothing more than a flashy feint." Naruto stated, stunning his teammates from how quickly he analyzed and broke down the attack.

Back on the ground floor Genji got back up, his eyes burning with fury. Once again, he rushed Lee, who this time launched him into the air with a quick upper kick to his chin. After doing so, he reappeared behind him using Kage Buyōas he loosened the bandages around his arms.

But before anything could happen, Team 12 acted.

Sasuke dropped to the floor and exploded into a sprint before jumping at the two, to Lee and Genji's complete shock.

Once at their level, he grabbed Genji and threw him to his sister who caught him and set him down, Satsuki began to check his wonds whilst Naruto grabbed a stunned Lee before he dropped to the ground.

"You know if you followed through with that attack he could've died." Naruto said, tightening his grip on the older boy's arm causing him to wince a bit at the abnormal strength.

"How is he?" Sasuke asked his team, turning to face them. Finishing up scanning Genji, they stood up and made their way to the two.

"He'll be fine. Nothing major, a little bit of bruising but it's nothing that needs immediate treatment." Satsuki reported, as she and Sasuke looked at Lee with cold gazes making him gulp.

"You're lucky Naruto intervened when he did, if Genji had been seriously injured you would've been in a hell of a lot of trouble." Satsuki said, her gaze growing even colder at the end of her sentence. Finally, Naruto let of his arm and started walking away with his team as the others looked on in awe.

"W-Wait! What is your name!" Lee called out, desperate to know the name of the one who managed to break off hisKage Buyō. Stopping, the blonde turned around slightly and he froze when he met cold electric blue eyes.

"Tokita." Was all he said before he left with his team.

_(Scene change - Hallway outside meeting room)_

After the incident involving Genji and Lee, Team 12 made their way to the meeting room where the other genin who made it past the genjutsu trap were expected to be. Nodding to each other, they opened the door and were immediately met with a flood of combined killing intent from the other examinees.

This was another tactic to weed out the weak, this allowed the competition to scope out and hunt down the weakest of the weak. But the team that was being subjected to the killing intent had experienced Zabuza's, who's killing intent was at least 30 times greater then this.

Shaking it off, they responded with their own killing intent, a distinct aura surrounding each member of the team. Satsuki had the aura of a blue hawk with crimson eyes. Sasuke had the aura that looked similar to his older sister's; being magenta with crimson eyes. Naruto's aura was pretty much non-existent due to his lack of senseory in chakra.

Having the combined force of the siblings killing intent brushed off and feeling something 2-3 times as strong, the other genin trembled slightly in the face of the newcomers, giving them a wide berth when they made their way inside eventually taking a spot in the corner of the room.

After a few minutes, they heard the boisterous voice of Sakura and Ino cut through the room, and glancing over they saw that they were bickering once more over the boys that they liked. But as they turned away, the rest of the rookies immediately saw them and made their way over, Narumi leading the charge.

"Naru-nii!" She shouted as she lunged and latched herself to her older brother, who she hasn't seen in nearly 2 months.

"Where have you been!? I haven't seen you around the village at all, it's been almost 2 months since I last saw you!" She questioned her brother, giving her best 'puppy dog eyes' that she could muster, making any lesser man give in, but Naruto was not such a man.

"I've been around Narumi-san." Was all he said as tried to pry her off only for her to tighten her grip. He sighed, knowing that she wouldn't be letting go anytime soon. Unbeknownst to him and his sister, Satsuki was giving her a spicy stare which left as soon as the other rookies arrived.

"Narumi! Let go of Naruto-niichan! You know that he doesn't like you clinging to him like that!" Mito half scolded half demanded, once again Narumi had beaten her to the punch. She also desperately missed her brother after not seeing him for 2 months and seeing Narumi cling to him like that made her blood boil with jealously.

As they started to squabble, a boy around their age jumped out of the crowd and threw a volley of kunai at them, Naruto was unable to react due to his sisters but he did give a signsl to Sasuke. After he did, Sasuke used his **Flash Step** and caught the kunai before dropping them to the floor, a strange mummified boy appeared in front of him, his hand already in half a ram seal as he swiped at him with a strange perforated gauntlet.

Dodging, at first he didn't feel anything but soon he dropped to one of his knees as his eyes widened slightly, his vision and ears blurring and ringing. Instantly, his team were by his side, checking to see if he was alright. As they were doing that, Sasuke glared at the two who attacked his teammate with slightly unfocused eyes as they started to slowly turn to a reddish hue.

But before anything else happened, a loud voice boomed throughout the room as the door slammed open. Ibiki and a group of chūnin proctors entering, dispersing around the room.

"Thanks for waiting... I'm Ibiki Morino, the exam proctor for the chūnin selection exam's first test. Oto-nin, stop doing what you want. Do you want to fail even before the exams begin?" At that, the mummified boy from earlier apologized for his team's actions.

"I'm sorry Mr. Proctor, this is our first exam so we're a little... jumpy you know." He boy said, as he and his team gave the downed blonde a smug smile before they turned around, never seeing Sasuke narrow his eyes, his pupil go from black to red.

I'll say this now so you morons had better not forget, there will be no tolerance for unsanctioned conflict. And even if they're sanctioned, killing your opponent will not be tolerated. Any of you pigs that break those rules will be eliminated immediately." He said in a chilling tone, making most of the genin start to sweat.

"For this first exam, you will be seated randomly by drawing lots. Now, come up here an start drawing." Ibiki ordered, as the genin lined up and started pulling out their numbers.

After about 10 minutes, everyone was seated, Naruto seated next to the sound kunoichi that was a part of the team that attacked him earlier. Sitting down next to her, he gave her a soul chilling glare that made her widen her eyes and stop breathing, fear invading every cell in her body from the inhumane glare that she was subjected to, but as soon as it came it vanished when he faced the front. Shakily, she did the same, praying that Dosu and Zaku could handle the demon that they had angered sitting next to her.

Soon, the tests were handed out, and the room went silent as Ibiki addressed them once more.

"As you can see, this is the first portion of the exams and it's a written one. There will be no questions that will be answered during the course of the test. Furthermore, there will be a few rules that you will have to follow. Number 1, there will be a point based system. You start with ten, there are ten questions. You get a question wrong you lose a point, easy right? Number 2, this will be a team based test. You and your teammates will passed based on the total combined score of your team. You will compete to see which team can stay the closest to that total score of 30 points. Number 3, anyone caught doing anything that even resembles cheating will have 2 points taken off for every offence. Those who lose all 10 points will be forced to leave. The chūnin stationed around the room will be observing and watching for anyone who tries to cheat, so be proud ninja and do your own work. And the final rule is, in the situation that you lose all 10 points, you and your team will be eliminated from the exam." At that last rule, an uproar occurred which Ibiki quelled quickly.

Once everything was explained, Ibiki announced the beginning of the test.

"Now, the exam will last 1 hour. Now, you may begin!" With that, silence and pencils on paper filled the room.

As soon as the exam started, Naruto flipped over his exam and quickly scanned the test, his eyes stopping on the final question.

"'Question 10: This question will be revealed 45 minutes after the test begins. Listen closely to the examiner before answering.' What...?" Pushing his confusion to the back of his mind, he scanned the test once again and realized that most of these questions required a tremendous amount of theoretical and practical knowledge to answer.

Quickly throwing a glance around, he noticed that some were already cheating; the bun haired girl before attaching a mirror to one of the overhead lights with wires that were attached to her pencil. Shino was gathering information with his insects. Kiba was using Akamaru. The Hyuga were using their byakugan. Shikamaru and Sakura were using their knowledge. Ino exchanged bodies between Shikamaru, Choji and herself to copy his answers. Mito and Narumi were answering using their own knowledge while Menma looked a little panicky. Genji and Sai were copying Sakura. Finally, Satsuki, Sasuke and Naruto were able to answer a majority of the questions since Anko pounded theoretical and practical knowledge into their heads.

After half an hour, the 51 teams that came in was reduced to 39. Many were caught cheating and were eliminated, one team in particular was vocal about their elimination to which a chūnin proctor had to put them down. Then another 15 minutes had passed, and once it did, Ibiki announced the start of the 10th question.

"Alright, now we begin the 10th question. Before we start, I'm going to go over a few added rules for this question. These... Are the rules of desperation." Ibiki said in an ominous tone, causing the tense atmosphere to become even more tense.

_(Scene change - Jōnin Standby Station)_

Gathered in the stand by station, the sensei of the squads entered in the exam chatted amongst each other as to what they thought was going to happen and was happening so far.

"I just hope that those kids didn't get themselves eliminated already." Genma sighed, knowing that his squad was probably the one most likely to fail due to their horrible teamwork.

"It'll be alright Genma, you gotta have a little confidence in them!" Asuma said, taking a drag of his cigarette.

"If anything, they should be able to make it past the first exam and at least to the second you know. They are part of the 'Rookie 15' you know." Asuma added in, trying to cheer his friend up.

"If the exams weren't hard enough, they have to deal with him in the first one." Genma added, making the other jōnin look to him with curious gazes.

"Who're you talking about Genma?" Kurenai asked, voicing the question in everyone's mind.

"They got to deal with Ibiki Morino in the first exam." At his answer, everyone sighed and prayed for the success of their genin.

"They're in for a rough time then, I really hope they'll be alright after dealing with that sadist." Kakashi said, as the others nodded their heads at his statement. After they did, the noticed that the last member of the room remained quiet, reading a magazine.

"An-Anko-chan, are you worried about your genin?" Kurenai asked her friend, still not having been forgiven for what happened a few weeks back.

"...They'll pass." Was all she said, her gaze never leaving the magazine making the other occupants of the room a little sad from her indifference.

The atmosphere a little awkward, they returned to talking about who was most likely to pass and who was not. Anko never leaving her magazine.

_(Scene change - First Exam testing room)_

"Now, why don't we go over the rules concerning the 10th question. Number 1, you must choose whether or not you will answer it." At that the blonde Suna nin, Temari, stood up.

"Wait! What if we choose not to answer it!?" She shouted, making everyone in the room tense up.

"If you choose not to take it, then you automatically lose all your points, making you and your teammates fail the exam. Now for the other rule, if you choose to take it. The lowest scoring member of your squad will be forced to remain a genin forever while the other two who scored higher will advance to the next round." At that the room exploded into an uproar.

"What!? Then what's the point of a team exam!?"

"But what if we all have the same number of points?!"

"Can we decide with our teammates?!"

At the voices shouting about how outrageous the conditions started to rise, Ibiki immediately quieted them down.

"Now, raise your hand if you are going to quit. Once the number is confirmed, you will be escorted out."

Once those words left his mouth, the room became deathly quiet. The team members that had built up friendships with each other immediately narrowed their eyes at their teammates, self preservation over their own success making them turn on them. Friendships and trust built up over the course of their careers as genin were immediately broken, spite and tension in its place.

Seeing the reaction he wanted, Ibiki hid his smirk. After 3 minutes he was about to confirm that no one was going to give up the question, but slowly a hand rose to the complete shock of everyone present.

"Morino-san, I give up my right as well as my team's right to take the 10th question." At that, Sasuke and Satsuki could only stand up gape at their team leader's decision. They had this exam in the bag, they were able to answer pretty much all the questions without much difficulty, minus a few of the cryptograms.

"Na-Naruto, what the hell are you doing!?" Satsuki shouted, her eyes widening in disbelief, not believing that he would take them down with him like that.

"You can't be serious Naruto?!" Sasuke questioned him, his eyes wide, not thinking that the normally blank but confident blonde would do something like this to them.

But he ignored them, his eyes staring straight into Ibiki's and the man had to hide a smile at the brass that the kid had.

_"Most if not all of these kids gave into the fact that they will be leaving one team member behind. Because of that they broke a very important rule of a ninja. This kid though..."_ His thoughts were broken when another person raised her hand.

"Mi-Mister proctor, I also would like to quit." Mito said, her voice shaking slightly when her sister and brother looked at her with wide eyes.

After Naruto's decision to not take the test was heard, some of the other teams who were built on friendship remembered that they were a team. Casting apologetic and forgiving looks at each other, more and more of the genin raised their hands to signal them abandoning the 10th question.

Out of the 39 teams that remained seated in the room, 26 had their hands raised. After 10 minutes, Ibiki finally nodded, and signaled the chūnin to split into two groups, one stayed in the room while the other followed Ibiki followed out as he led the 26 teams out.

Once out, he led them into a separate room before he made them line up with their teams. Once they did, he cracked a smile to their complete shock.

"Congratulations, you all pass the first exam." Once those words left his mouth, everyone dropped their jaws.

"I bet you're wondering why you passed when you forfeited the last question right? That question was a simulation of a scenario where you had to take a risk, that risk having two consequences. One, you sacrifice one of your teammates for your own personal gain or two, you give up and retreat with the lives of all everyone. Because in times, information is more important than life and on missions and on the battlefield, people risk their lives to get their hands on it. But even with that being said, you should never give up the life of any of your comrades in order to further your own gain. It seems like one of you noticed that rather quickly." Finishing his last sentence, he looked directly at Naruto and was met with the same blank look from before. The other genin looking in awe at him, Sasuke and Satsuki looking at him with apologetic eyes.

"The ability to be courageous and survive any hardship. These are the abilities needed to become a chūnin captain. Those who can't put their destinies on the line who cling to the notion of furthering their own gain while leaving their comrades to perish alone; those pieces of trash who can only make such cowardly choices do not deserve to become chūnin!" Finishing his speech, Ibiki gave them a larger smile, proud of their decision to not abandon their teammates.

"Now, the 78 of you. Once again, congratulations on passing the first exam." Once he finished, the window exploded as a giant sword embedded itself into the beam on the wall.

The hostile moment was broken when Ibiki sighed as Zabuza appeared in a swirl of mist, on the handle of his sword.

"Alright you brats, I'm Zabuza Momochi, the proctor for the second exam!" Zabuza barked out, seeing the looks of fear on their faces, they all knew that he was the 'Demon of the Hidden Mist'.

"Whoa, there's a bunch of them who passed Ibiki, you must be losing that skill you told me about. I expected you to only pass around 20." Zabuza commented, as Ibiki's eye twitched slightly. But before he could retort, Zabuza pulled out his Executioner's Blade and rested it on his shoulder.

"Well whatever, follow me! We're heading to Training Ground 44. Don't get left behind or else I'll fail you. I have no patience for brats who can't follow simple orders!" With that, Zabuza walked out the door leaving behind a stunned group of genin.

As the rest of them were stunned, Naruto walked forward while he patted Sasuke and Satsuki on the back snapping them out of their stupor as they followed him out the door. Soon, the rest of the genin followed suit.

_(Scene change - Training Ground 44)_

Arriving at the heavily fenced area, the genin stood in front of Zabuza and a group chūnin as they started to address them.

"Now, welcome to Training Ground 44, better known as the 'Forest of Death'. This is where the second part of the chūnin exams will take place. In this part, you will have to fight and survive for 5 days while trying to reach the tower in the center of the forest. But reaching the tower isn't all you have to do. You will each need to find and secure a pair of these scrolls." Zabuza started, as he pulled out two scrolls labeled with 'Heaven' and 'Earth' and showed them to the genin.

But before he could continue, some of the genin voiced their concerns.

"Wait! Five days!? What about a shower?!"

"What do we eat?!"

"What about a place to sleep!?"

Sighing at the idiotic questions that he was getting, Zabuza continued.

"Didn't you hear? You have to survive in this forest. There's plenty of wild game and edible plants that you can eat. There are multiple rivers and streams that you can get water from and bathe in if you want. But adding to that, there's also some nasty predatory animals and poisonous flora in this forest, so try not to get eaten by a flower alright?" At that, they quieted down and he finished with his explanation.

"Each team will be given one scroll of these scrolls at random to start out with; 13 the 'Heaven' and 13 the 'Earth'. You will need to protect that scroll with your lives, and at the same time fight for the other. To pass, you need to get both to the tower with your entire team intact within the time limit. Now, let me explain what will constitute a failing. Failure to make it to the tower with your team and scroll will fail your team. Having a teammate die or get killed will also get you failed. And that's the other thing. You will be in this forest for five days, once inside you aren't leaving until the time limit runs out. And the final rule, opening the scroll will also cause you to automatically fail no matter what." At that, everyone froze. Seeing their expressions, Zabuza couldn't help but grin under his bandages.

"Now, fill out these forms. They're waivers and information concerning yourself. You need to hand in 3 to get a scroll, and be sure to hide it well. Don't know who might be watching you know. After that, head to a gate and wait until everything is set. And one last piece of advice, try not to die." Finished with his explanation, Zabuza signaled the chūnin to start distributing the forms around.

After getting their forms, Team 12 made their way over to a small rock formation and began filling out their forms. While quiet, their minds were racing. Finally, Naruto and Satsuki spoke up.

"Hey, Naruto... I'm sorry about earlier, during the first exam. I should've known better then to question your judgment without hearing your reasoning. We're a team after all and we should always trust each other and stick together." Satsuki apologized, feeling guilty about calling out her teammate in front of the entire room.

"I'm also sorry Naruto. You're our team's leader, and we should always have faith in you. I was just scared and nervous, but that still doesn't make what I did any better." Sasuke also apologized, knowing what he did wasn't right.

"So troublesome. You I didn't answer anything on the test right? And why am I leader? You guys have the sane experience as I do." Naruto replied, making the hearts of his teammates feel lighter then before, their guilt melting away. And also surpriaing them with his words.

"Now, for this exam there will be killing allowed. I don't want the two of you doing anything risky understand?" Now serious, Satsuki started to address her team, making them turn serious as well.

"We'll need to find a team to take down and take a scroll from, not only that but we need to protect our own as well, and adding onto that we need to avoid not only other teams but the animals and plants that are inside. The plan is to stay in 'Formation D'; you two will be in the rear this time so keep close and don't let each other out of your sight. I'll take point and keep a lookout for anything in front of us and in the event that we do engage a team, I'll make them break formation while you guys pick them off when they're separated. In the events that things go south, you two retreat and I'll take them off your trail, we'll meet up somewhere else." At her plan, Sasuke and Naruto nodded, though they didn't like the last part they knew that she was probably strong enough to take on a team of genin alone.

Finishing up with signing their forms, they made their way to the tent where they would receive their scrolls. Along the way, they were stopped by Zabuza.

"Haha, well brats, trying to become chūnin huh!" Zabuza said in a jovial tone, as he greeted them. Giving him a smile, they had a quick conversation to the shock of everyone present.

"We are Zabuza-san, we'll pass this part without any trouble at all!" Sasuke said with determination in his eyes. Zabuza giving him a pat on the head for his determination, much to his embarrassment.

"After we pass, you had better stop treating us like kids!" Satsuki said a smirk on her face, but it quickly left when Zabuza also gave her a pat on the head, her face getting red with embarrassment and anger.

"..." Zabuza and Naruto stared at each other for a while before they smiled, Zabuza putting his hand on his shoulder.

"Don't you die in there brat, we still haven't decided on whose the better warrior!" Zabuza proclaimed, making the other genin tense up. If Zabuza Momochi had acknowledged him as a warrior, they were sure that he was powerful as well.

Bidding farewell to their superior and friend, they got their scroll and followed their assigned proctor to their gate.

Finally, a buzzer sounded out and they immediately rushed into the forest.

_(Scene change - Forest of Death: Team 12's location)_

Once they stepped into the forest, Team 12 sped through the foliage in formation, getting as far away from the gate as possible. Soon, they managed to find a small stream and decided to stop for the moment.

"Alright, status report." Satsuki asked, as Sasuke started his assessment.

"So far, we're about 50 meters from our starting position. I didn't sense anything get caught in my genjutsu and I didn't sense any genjutsu cast on any of us. I'm sure that for right now, we're safe." Sasuke reported, panting a little from having to maintain his jutsu since the start of the exam.

"I've seen the same. My sharingan didn't pick up any movement in the area, and I didn't see any chakra in the surroundings either." Satsuki gave her assessment, her crimson eyes returning to onyx.

"Alright, thanks you two. We'll take a break for now and regain our energy. Sasuke, take it easy for right now, out of all of us you've used up the most chakra so far so try and recover as much as you can. Satsuki, you keep an eye on things while I go and find us something to eat. When I come back, remember what we talked about alright." Naruto ordered, getting affirmative nods from his teammates as he headed deeper into the forest.

Once Naruto left, Sasuke let out a sigh as he took a seat on a rock as Satsuki fetched some water and made a small fire, boiling it. A comfortable silence took over as they relaxed but kept their senses alert.

"Sasuke what do you think of the exams so far?" Satsuki asked, putting more fuel into the small fire.

"So far? I think that we're doing great! We haven't run into any enemy ninja or animals, overall I feel pretty confident about our situation so far." Sasuke said with a smile on his face, his twin returning one.

After 10 minutes, they heard rustling in the brush nearby. Quickly standing up, Sasuke and Satsuki pulled out a kunai while they took up defensive stances. But their tenseness left when they saw the familiar blank face of their teammate.

"Sorry, but I didn't find anything ladies." Naruto said, but was instantly sent flying by a punch from Satsuki.

"Wh-What the hell!" Naruto shouted, his eyes wide in disbelief. But they widened even more when Sasuke fired off a volley of shuriken and kunai at him, forcing him to dodge. Once he was a safe distance away, he was met with a glare from both of them in front of him.

"You must think we're morons or something huh." Satsuki said, pulling out another kunai as she activated her sharingan.

"Naruto doesn't call us 'ladies' and he wouldn't have shouted from a weak punch like that." she added, a handful of shuriken ready as she glared at the imposter. Now in training Naruto called Sasuke lady all the time, so when he heard it again Sasuke was expecting a hit so he threw Shuriken.

"Tsk, looks like it failed huh. Well whatever! I'm taking that scroll!" The imposter said before a puff of smoke appeared, a boy wearing a white bodysuit, a respirator on his face sprinting out of it.

Quickly, Sasuke threw his shuriken while Satsuki sped through a series of seals. Seeing the danger in front on him, the boy dodged rolled to the side to evade the hail of shuriken but instantly widened his eyes when he heard Satsuki.

**"Suiton: Suishougeki!"** Satsuki shouted as she fired a large ball of water that crashed into him, sending him crashing to the trunk of the tree behind him. After a few seconds, she released the jutsu as the boy hit the ground unconscious.

After they dispatched their opponent, he disappeared in a puff of smoke a log in his place. As they started to calm down from the rush of adrenaline, it came back when the brush rustled once more; another Naruto stepping out covered in a little bit of blood, carrying a small boar over his shoulder.

Immediately seeing the tenseness of his team, he stopped walking towards him and scanned the area noticing the shuriken lodged in the tree to his right, a pool of water with a log laying in it.

"...So you were attacked." Naruto said, his eyes growing colder; making his teammate's shiver slightly but it also reassured them that it indeed was their teammate.

Getting debriefed about what happened while he was gone, Naruto nodded, cursing himself for letting his guard down. Even though Satsuki and Sasuke stated that it wasn't his fault, he couldn't help but feel like it was, being that he was the one who they all agreed was their squad's leader.

Finishing cooking the boar, he told them that he would keep watch for the night as they ate, still angry at his own incompetence for costing his teammate's valuable energy. At first they protested, but were immediately quieted when Naruto gave them a stern look. Quietly, the pulled out their sleeping bags and went to bed. Naruto pulling out a kunai and started spinning it as he closed his eyes, letting his other senses take over in the darkness that now consumed the forest.

_(Time skip - The next morning)_

Waking up, Sasuke and Satsuki immediately sat up and frantically looked for their blonde teammate. They found him shirtless, washing his upper body with a damp towel. Unable to break away from the tantalizing site, Satsuki just stared as she wiped away the tiny bit of drool the dribbled down their lips from the stimulating scene. But she was broken out of their state when Naruto suddenly stood up, pulling out a kunai before he was blown away from his position by a sudden surge of wind making the two widen their eyes.

Quickly shedding their sleeping bags they were greeted with the sight of a tall, gaunt man with a single violet-colored rectangular mark on his forehead, his bangs on his left side. He wore a black body suit with various straps that covered it, a cloak hanging on his right shoulder.

"Well what do we have here hmm? Looks like that blonde brat wasn't strong at all, well what about the two of you hmm?" He asked in a condescending tone, making the two twins narrow their eyes at him.

"Oh, scary. It's like facing a pair of agitated kittens." He jeered, finally breaking the last of the girls' patience.

"You'll pay for what you did to Naruto!" Satsuki shouted angrily, her sharingan flaring to life as she pulled out a wakizashi with the Uchiha insignia as the tsuba, the handle wrapped in a cloth of red and white colors of her clan.

"You're going to regret attacking us." Sasuke said in a cold voice, pulling out tanto with his clan's symbol running along the length of the blade, it's handle wrapped in a red and black cloth.

"Oh! Looks like these kittens have some claws huh? Well, let's see how sharp they are!" He said in an arrogant tone dropping down before he pulled out a kunai.

Silence covered the newly made battle zone before Sasuke and Satsuki charged forward their blades intent on running through the man before them. But they were shocked when he blocked both of their strikes with his kunai.

"How disappointing... they're duller then I expected." The man said in a mockingly disappointed tone.

Snapping out of their shock, the two continued their assault, attack in surprising sync with each other to his surprise.

Jumping back, he was met with Sasuke who lunged forward with a low stab intent to pierce his leg, which he pulled back behind himself in response. As he did, Satsuki appeared, her hand on Sasuke's back to support her as she swiped horizontally at his neck intent on beheading him.

His eyes widened when he found himself unable to take step back, quickly glancing down his legs were intertwined with each other. The leg he took a step back with from earlier blocked his dominant leg from taking a step back. Cursing at his error, he dropped to the ground and rolled backwards, Satsuki missing her attack as she hopped off of Sasuke's back.

Standing back up, he tried to take a step back but instead moved he tilted his head to the left to his surprise and horror. Wondering why he made such an erroneous mistake, he saw that Sasuke had one of his hands in a seal and his eyes immediately widened.

"So you saw huh. Looks like my genjutsu then." Sasuke said with a cold smirk appearing on his face as Satsuki gained a similar look, her sharingan spinning ominously.

Seeing the now cold and confident looks on the two twins, Ichi started to sweat, not expecting the two to be this strong. The information said that the boy was much stronger then they were, but if they were this strong he couldn't imagine how strong that boy was.

He was broken out of his thoughts when the two charged at him, their eyes cold and narrowed as he panicked.

"YOU'RE FINISHED!" They shouted in unison, stabbing him in the chest with their blades as he let out a silent scream.

_(Scene change - Forest of Death: Naruto's location)_

After he was blown away, Naruto lost consciousness for a few minutes before he came to and scanned his surroundings. Immediately he jumped back as a volley of kunai impaled the spot that he stood on. Looking at the source of the attack, he spotted a curvaceous woman with black irises in her eyes, a classic jonin suit that revealed much of her chest and figure, and long black hair curled into a spiral. Upon spotting her, she giggled at him before dropping down to meet him.

"Oh, well aren't you a cutie." She said in a seductive tone, matched with a small smile on her lips.

"Who are you. You definitely aren't a genin." Naruto asked in a chilling tone, his eyes becoming colder then ice.

"Oh scary, though you would be much more terrifying and less tempting if you had a shirt on boy." She replied, scanning his body with her eyes. Before she finished though, Naruto was in front of her, his fist cocked back. Her eyes widened in shock before she let out a soundless scream as he buried his fist into her abdomen, sending her crashing to the tree behind dust exploding from the impact.

"Tsk, weak." Naruto said, spitting out the word like it was poison. As the dust cleared, in her place was a shattered log.

"How very scary, what would you do if that had actually hit me?" She said in a hurt tone with a pout on her face before it turned into a scary sneer.

"I'll make you wish you were dead when I'm done with you boy!" She shouted as she charged at him with incredible speed, engaging him in a taijutsu battle.

Lashing out, her palm connected to his chest as he reeled back wincing in pain. Following up with a devastating elbow to his jaw, Naruto tried to take a step back but was met with a kick to his abdomen, sending him back a few feet.

"Looks like you aren't as strong as you think you were huh." She said in a sing-song tone as she made her way towards him. But as she was about to reach him, the ground underneath her exploded, Naruto landing a vicious uppercut on her chin, sending her up in the air before he spun around and kicked the side of her body sending her flying sideways, the Naruto on the ground replaced with a log.

Landing on his feet, he spat out a globule of blood before taking his stance again, his opponent was already walking towards him while dusting off her clothes, which were now ripped in a few places from hitting and skipping on the ground.

"Look what you did! You ruined my favorite outfit! Or maybe... Were you trying to rip it? Hehe, you're such a perverted boy, but I guess that does mean you're healthy." She said in a teasing tone before she vanished, making Naruto's eyes go wide before he was sent flying to through the forest from a kick to the chest.

Finally, he crashed into a river and surfaced, catching his breath from the brutal attack. Getting out of the water and kneeling on it, he tried to analyze his opponent's attacks. They were too strong to be just physical strength and her speed and durability, it wasn't human. Before he could continue along that train of thought, she appeared in a blur and taunted him.

"What's the matter cutie? Can't you keep up with little old me?" She said in a cutesy tone, making which was starting to infuriate Naruto. Seeing his rising agitation, she decided to rouse his anger even more.

"If you're having this much trouble with me, I can't only imagine how those two are holding out against Ichi." At that, Naruto's eyes widened, as she gained a cruel smile. But before she could continue, she avoided a slash that would've disected her.

Jumping back her eyes widened when she saw what he was wielding. It wasn't the iron fists that the reports said, it was a long, pitch black rod. It had had shined a black blade having the kanji for 'Void' inscribed in crimson onto it.

Spinning it around a few times, he held it in a reverse grip behind his body as Karla stared in awe, fear starting to seep into her heart from seeing such a weapon. But she had to move as he appeared right next to her already in mid swing. Rolling to the side, she suffered a cut on her side from the attack. Rolling back up, she jumped back to avoid another horizontal swipe and he carried out his assault.

After the short game of cat and mouse, Karla had suffered multiple cuts, the deepest being the diagonal slash on her chest, between her breasts. Naruto didn't look damaged, but he was suffering internally from her attacks from earlier. About to charge in for another flurry of slashes, Naruto stopped when he felt a large explosion nearby as Karla smirked.

"Looks like those two are finished boy, too bad you weren't there to save them." She sneered, the last of her energy running out. But she quieted and felt fear take over her heart when he turned to face her.

After hearing her taunting, Naruto felt rage boil in his veins. Glaring at her, his navy blue eyes were replaced with burning cold ones, his round pupil now reptilian. Getting into a stance with his oppenent laying beneath him.

"That's enough." Naruto whispered before he vanished and reappeared in front of Karla, as she could only watch on in horror and shock as he swung diagonaly and cut her right arm, followed by spinning his rod then removing her head band then he spun around and kicked her in the stomach, stopping and spinning his rod once more, he impaled her to the tree.

As she laid there, Karla had one last through run through her head as a smile found it's way to her face.

_"Hiruko-sama... He is the on-"_ She thought before Naruto surprsingly slammed a seal tag on her forehead.

"Damn. You guys are better than I thought." said Naruto as he leaned back and took in Karla's expression. He knew she was an enemy but Naruto could tell what she specialized in just by their fight. Those awful mind tricks he always got headaches from, the ones Niko left behind for him. She had used one on him.

"**The Fang Leap Ma Tin Se"** a simple yet unbrekable technique. The idea was to upset the oppenent and invaded their mind, forcing them to give into their hatred. The feeling worked as a taunt of sorts, a taunt that would last years to be sure.

"If you make it out of here, feel free to come at me with my own tool." said Naruto as he stood up and began to walk away.

Casting one last burning gaze at his dismembered opponent, Naruto's eyes returned to their normal navy, never seeing the remains of his opponent dissolve into a pool of strange black substance.

_(Scene change - Forest of Death: Sasuke and Satsuki vs. Ichi_)

Sasuke and Satsuki were confused and scared, after they stabbed the man in front of them he blew up and sent them flying. Once they recovered, they saw that he didn't even have a scratch on him.

Narrowing their eyes, they sped through a series of seals before calling out their jutsu.

**"Suiton: Teppōdama!"** Satsuki shouted, firing off a volley of high speed water bullets.

**"Katon: Great Fireball!"** Sasuke called out, firing a huge fireball.

Once their jutsu hit their mark, a large explosion of water and earth covered the area where their opponent once stood, smirking to themselves they quickly panicked and lost it when they saw that he wasn't harmed in the slightest.

"Whew, that was pretty scary you know! I could've actually died you know!" He said in a mocking tone, making the two in front of him lose the confidence that they had built up.

"Wh-What are you...?" Satsuki asked, not believing that anyone could take an attack like that and still be ok. But all she got was a scary smile as he vanished, appearing right next to them.

"Wha-" Was all Satsuki managed to say before she was sent flying by a kick, crashing into the river.

"Satsuki!" Sasuke shouted, not believing what just happened. But he was quickly sent flying when he back handed him to the same area that he sent Satsuki.

After hitting the water, the two girls could only writhe in pain from the power the blows had, finally resurfacing after a minute of regaining their composure. Standing up on the water, they found their opponent was standing on the river with them, a sneer on his face.

"You two should give up, your blonde boyfriend is probably six feet under by now, especially since Ni is fighting him. I wouldn't be surprised if she kissed him before she killed him actually. Not a bad way to go wouldn't you s-" He never finished his sentence as Satsuki appeared in front of him and buried her fist into his abdomen, making his eyes widen as the air was forced out of his lungs.

He didn't have a chance to recover as Sasuke appeared behind Satsuki, the two exchanging places as Satsuki delivered a bone shattering upper kick sending him into the air. Jumping back the two blurred through a series of seal for their most powerful jutsu.

As he began to fall back down, they finished and ended the battle.

**"SUITON: DAIBAKUFU NO JUTSU!"** They shouted in unison, the water from the river forming a circle around the two as two spiraling waterfalls collided with the falling form of their opponent; shredding the ground, uprooting the trees, and battering his body against the ground, as he was subjected to an unrelenting assault of blunt force trauma.

Finally, the water receded, Satsuki and Sasuke dropping onto their knees panting, having used an extreme amount of chakra for their jutsu. Seeing the damage that their jutsu caused, there was no doubt that they finished off their opponent. As that thought rang though their minds, they felt sick to their stomachs, but it vanished when they saw a head of blonde hair emerge from the forest.

"Sasuke! Satsuki!" He shouted, as he sprinted towards them. They're hearts were immediately relieved when they saw that he was okay but then they noticed that there were dark blue, bordering black, bruises that covered his body indicating severe internal trauma. As he reached them, he bent down to help them up, offering the two of them his shoulders which they gratefully accepted.

Making it towards the shore, they finally sat down, the adrenaline from their battle finally fading from their bloodstream. But as they were relaxing after their grueling battle, they never noticed that their opponent didn't perish from the relentless assault.

Ichi, after seeing Satsuki's sharingan, knew that was the one his master wanted. After confirming it, he sent a snake-like creature from his arm towards the group, intent on fulfilling the mission he was given. Naruto, sensing something was wrong immediately shoved Satsuki aside, causing her and Sasuke to become alarmed.

Naruto quickly deflected the snake and chopped it's head off. After this Naruto was going to disarm the man but was stopped by something he knew he'd come up one day... just not so damn soon.

As Naruto threw a jab at the man, he was suprised to feel the famaliar feeling of his flow being redirected. Taking a long look at Naruto the man whispered one last thing before Naruto's memory cut off.

**"Weeping Willow."**

And with that Naruto's balance was pulled forward, causing him to stumble before a similar seal was slapped onto his forehead, making him motionless.

"Well, well, well, you aren't what we were expecting... You lool the same as you did 10 years ago..." said Ichi as he circled Naruto before taking off his mask, revealing his eyes to be blind. As Ichi continued to ramble Sasuke had regained a fair bit of strength.

_"I'm pathetic... I'm like a helpless child for crying out loud..." _thought Satsuki before he remembered that technique that hit Naruto. Naruto said he thought it was something to awaken the Sharingan but he said it would be a bad idea since the technique didn't come with an off switch.

Gritting his teeth, Sasuke was able to to stance himself perfectly. Sasuke crouched down and placed his right leg forward before he dissapeared leaving nothing but a few static shocks where he was standing.

"Hey, hey, I'm not too good at fighting if you go that fast I won't be able t-" said Ichi as he stopped and talked alpud before he was firmly planted in the ground by Sasuke.

"Enough. If someone as dangerous as you is here... I can't afford to hold back." said Sasuke as he assumed his stance once again before he tried another attack but failed before he coild even see the man. When Sasuke dissapeared he quickly reaapeared not too far from original spot before he was seen being choked out by Ichi before he told something chilling.

"You're... fast. For a genin. I'm a killer' deranged as I am, I know my limits... And I'm not a good enough fighter to fight a jonin." said Ichi before he let Sasuke go and turned his attention to the drained Satsuki.

"Ahhh, the empress of black... You'd strike me?" said Ichi as he stared at her before his eyes became the same as Naruto's when he used his costly technique.

"Wha? What are y-you talking about?" Satsuki said right before her Sharingan flared to live on it's own before the black flames of **Amaterasu** shot out towards Ichi. Satsuki breathed a sigh of relief, believing the fight to be over. But what she saw truly did scare her.

_"N-no way! That's not possible!" _Satsuki shouted as Ichi merely raised his hand and froze the flames in place, in midair.

"Ahhh, I did not expect to see them this soon. Did you miss me?" Ichi asked as he embraced the flame, petting it like a pet before the flames burnt out.

"Dear me... I believe I must be going now." said Ichi as he pulled yet another snake from his sleeve.

"Come now empress, it's time for you to return." said Ichi as he began to walk towards Satsuki with a grin so wide it seemed like a crescent moon.

"Sorry Sun. You didn't leave me a choice." was all that was heard before the sound of a pin being dropped and a huge bolt of lighting came down and hit Ichi for all his worth.

**"Lightning King Iron Hammer!"** shouted Naruto as he used Flash step to escape the lightning chakra he had built up from going so fast.

Taking a huge gasp for air, Naruto was surprised to see Ichi there with a very small lightning bolt between his index finger and his thumb.

"For someone who fails to grasp the dark side... you're incredible adapt at using it's techniques." Ichi said before he snapped his fingers and made Naruto pass out.

"Now that they're finished shall we continue?" questioned Ichi before he was met with a smiling Sasuke. Quickly wiping the grin off his face Ichi was about to snap again before his hand began to burn. Looking down to his left hand Ichi noticed the lightning bolt began to grow and expand.

"That snake will still claim her flame boy." was all Ichi said before he released the lightning bolt causing it's energy to explode and envelope the area for at least a mile wide radius.

As Sasuke appeared to be in front Ichi he surprised everyone by showing how fast he was. He was so fast that he was leaving afterimages all around Ichi. As the multiple images of Sasuke filled the area they quickly turned into electricity, quickly adding to the impending explosion.

Going to shield Satsuki, Sasuke was able to save his sister from the damned snake. But all he got for his suffering was pain.

Pain. That was all that Sasuke could feel the moment he was bitten by the snake. Gritting his teeth in a futile attempt to stifle his cry of pain, he grabbed at the area where he had been bit as he eventually gave in, letting out an agonizing scream of pain, the likes of which his teammates have never heard before.

Quickly ending the snake with a hail of shuriken and kunai, the two were at the side of their downed teammate. What they saw made their eyes widen, there was a strange mark on his shoulder that was in the shape of three tomoe. As tears started to form in their eyes, they heard maniacal laughing from the direction that their opponent had been sent and they saw him, his arms, legs, and neck bent in distorted directions. Satsuki was about to finish him but she stopped once she saw Naruto walking over to the disfigured Ichi.

"Sun... Oh how I wish you would've been spared." said Naruto as he walked over and knelt down before him. They two were now at eye level with each other but none dared to speak.

"Tokita... *cough* why did you hurt me? You said we were friends." said Ichi as he coughed up blood and gave Naruto a longing look. The man looked as if he would crumble with just a few small gusts of wind.

"We... aren't friends... because you chose the wrong side!" said Naruto before he placed his hand on Ichi before he activated a technique he wasn't supposed to use anymore, **Bio Leach**.

As Naruto's technique took effect he began to fill out more and his skin color became more vibrant.

_"Hiruko-sama... He, is the one you have been searching for..."_ Ichi said in his mind, as he finally died. The man's body quickly became nothing as the energy absorbing techniques did not end.

After everything was settled, with a now unconscious Sasuke in their arms, Naruto and Satsuki could only shake at what just happened. Their friend was injured, unconscious and now had a strange looking mark on him because they let their guard down. Before they could fall further into depression, they heard a scream echo through the forest and instantly tensed up.

Locking gazes with each other the two nodded, wiping away the rest of their tears, they steeled their resolve putting Sasuke on their shoulders and making their way to a safer place, never seeing that Ichi's body dissolved into another puddle of black substance.

_(Scene change - Unknown location)_

"Looks like duplicates failed I didn't get the sharingan, but... it appears that I gained something even more valuable..." A voice said calmly, before eerie laughter could be heard echoing in the blackness.


End file.
